(NEWS )How I escaped being killed by Evans - Court witness recounts near-death experience with kidnapper
The witness, Donatus Duru, told the court that God rescued him from the notorious abductor just a day before he was to be murdered
- The judge presiding over the kidnapper's case, Justice Hakeem Oshodi, adjourned the hearing till Friday, March 11
Donatus Duru, a second prosecution witness in the trial of Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, also known as Evans,, has testified before Justice Hakeem Oshodi of an Ikeja High Court how he was saved by God just before he was scheduled to be murdered by Evans and his gang.
Narrating how he was kidnapped, Duru said: “I closed from work around 7:30p.m. when an SUV double-crossed me and a man came down from the car and pointed the long gun at me. He dragged me down and pushed me into the booth of their car and covered the car”, Daily Times reports.
“But after I prayed in the midnight of Thursday, before the Friday they scheduled to kill me, I wrapped the bedspread in the room where they kept me, round the shackles on my legs, like the one used to chain mad people, the padlocks opened up; I found the kidnapper guarding me deep in sleep on a three-seater in the parlour.
"I walked to the kitchen; found the doors open, then eased my way through loose locks; and surprisingly found a ladder in the compound that aided my escape into the next compound.” Chief Duru further told the court that he spent 88 days in the kidnappers’ den situated at somewhere in Igando, Lagos.
“On the day I jumped into the next compound which was also a bungalow like the one I was kept, I sustained injuries and I was looking very unkempt and haggard. The couple I jumped into their compound were scared. They threatened to call security in the street or the police. “I told them to call the police. When they were about to do that, electricity went off and they abandoned me and went back to sleep. At that time, I realized that the kidnappers had started looking for me. So I hid somewhere till morning.
“The couple woke up to see me and decided to call the street chairman. But before they could do that, a young man of about 24 years old, flogged and chased me out of the compound. I got to a nursery school around the kidnappers’ den and the corporate guards there didn’t still believe my story. Somehow, another man who listened to my story decided to call my wife and cousin when I gave him their numbers.
“It was my cousin’s own that connected and they spoke. So the man then believed that I was not a thief. He then took me to Idimu Police Station, Ilupeju where my brothers’ initially lodged the complaint of my kidnap. From there, we went to Anti-cultism and Kidnap in Surulere and to Lagos State Police Commissioner’s office, and all us went to the kidnappers’ den.
“Thereafter, I was taken to Police house in Lagos where I saw Evans and the 2nd defendant. Also at Agege police station, I saw the 4th defendant known as Congo, who is from my hometown. At the meetings, they pleaded that I should forgive them that it was devil that pushed them.”
However, during cross examination, the counsel to the 1st, 2nd and 4th defendants, Olukoya Ogungbede reminded the witness that he wrote in his statement at the police that he was kidnapped in April but told the court that it was in February. And he replied that it was a mistake. Justice Oshodi thereafter adjourned the matter till May 11, 2018 for continuation of cross examination and trial.
Meanwhile, Naijawow.com.ng reported that Evans had pleaded not guilty , at the continuation of his trial at the Lagos high court, Ikeja, Lagos, on Thursday, October 19.
Naijawow.com.ng gathered that he was brought into court along with five other suspects - four men and one lady - and all of them were handcuffed.
Evans the kidnapper lands in Kirikiri prison after first appearance in court
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