Kidnap, Murder: Court Reserves Judgment Against Banker Who Killed A Friend For N2 Million Till Monday

                      

Odogwuemekaodogwu.com reports that an Otuocha High Court in Anambra State, presided over by Justice G. C. Anunude has reserved judgment till Monday, June 16, in a three-count charge of conspiracy, kidnap and murder brought against a staff of United Bank for Africa, UBA Plc, Ogboefere (Cooking utensils) market branch, Bridge-head, Onitsha, Jude Onwuzulike.

The police had in 2013, arraigned Onwuzulike before the court, accusing him of conspiring with others now at large to kidnap and murder one Chinwuba Ekwenze, a motor spare parts dealer at Nkpor, near Onitsha.

Odogwuemekaodogwu.com informs that the court had earlier fixed the judgment date for last Wednesday but because the presiding judge went to Abuja on a seminar, the judgement date was shifted to Monday.

According to the charge, Onwuzulike had on Monday, January 14, 2013, allegedly lured Ekwenze to an unknown destination and murdered him with the assistance of others suspected to be hired killers.

Consequently, the accused person pleaded not guilty to all the charges and was remanded in the Onitsha prison custody, while his trial commenced.    

During the trial, about six prosecution witnesses, including the police and the Department of Security Services, DSS who investigated the matter, testified before the court against Onwuzulike.

One of the prosecution witnesses and Ekwenze's elder brother, John told the court on oath that the summary of the reason behind Onwuzulike's decision to eliminate Ekwenze was because Ekwenze gave Onwuzulike about N2 million for a business transaction but when Ekwenze wanted to retrieve the money from Onwuzulike to enable him acquire a piece of land and commence a housing project, Onwuzulike now decided to get him out the way, odogwuemekaodogwu.com reports.

John told the court that while Onwuzulike was still in the police custody being interrogated, he initially denied entering into or signing any financial agreement with the missing Ekwenze but when the police recovered the contract document from Ekwenze.'s iron save, duly signed by both of them, Onwuzulike now admitted but told the police that he had refunded the money to Ekwenze before his disappearance.

John further told the court that before his younger brother's disappearance, he had told him that he reached an agreement with Onwuzulike to deposit a sum of N2 million into Onwuzulike's account and earn a fixed deposit interest of about N90,000 per annum which Ekwenze did and Onwuzulike settled him for some years before relenting, adding that when he consistently failed to pay the agreed deposit in the following years, Ekwenze now demanded the refund of the N2 million.

John further testified that Ekwenze informed him shortly before his disappearance that Onwuzulike had reluctantly promised to refund the N2 million to him on January 24, 2013, not knowing that he was hatching the plan to eliminate him, so that he would not live to continue to mount pressure for the refund of the money.

He said on January 14, 2013, Onwuzulike gave himself (John) and the missing Ekwenze a ride in his (Onwuzulike) Toyota Camry car to Nando, the home town of the Ekwenzes to negotiate for the price of a parcel of land which the missing Ekwenze wanted to acquire for his building project.

He said after taking them to Nando and hearing Ekwenze settling with the land owner to acquire the land for N800,000, Onwuzulike, apparently sensing that more pressures would be mounted on him to cough out the money, drove them back to their base at Nkpor and dropped them, only to lure Ekwenze in the same Monday evening by calling him on phone and requesting him to escort him to a purported bride price ceremony of his (Onwuzulike's) house girl who he alleged was impregnated by somebody.   

He said it was on that process of escorting Onwuzulike to the purported pride price ceremony that he (Onwuzulike) gave Ekwenze away to his stationed hired killers who eliminated him instantly and buried him in an unknown place.

Odogwuemekaodogwu.com reports further that he said it was the missing Ekwenze's apprentice trader who alerted him (John) on Tuesday morning, January 15, 2013 that he had never seen Ekwenze, his master since morning, adding that on enquiry, he contacted Ekwenze's neighbour who now told them that Ekwenze left his apartment since Monday evening, after receiving a call from Onwuzulike.

He said he went to look for Onwuzulike in his office at the UBA, Ogboefere branch and they told him he had just left the banking premises and when he went to his residence at Mgbuka, Nkpor axis, he was told that Onwuzulike had equally just left and he decided to wait for him inside a nearby drinking parlour.

He further told the court that Onwuzulike got a wind that he (John) was waiting for him near his residence and decided not to return home, instead, he called his wife on phone and asked her to sneak out of the premises with her children, adding that it was when she was sneaking out that someone identified her to him as Onwuzulike's wife and at once he pounced on her with the assistance of other aggrieved spare parts traders and took her to Ogidi police station.

He said at the police station, Onwuzulike now surfaced and was interrogated by the police briefly before he and his wife were granted bail, adding that not satisfied with the police bail, he now reported the matter to DSS who swung into action, arrested Onwuzulike, interrogated him for weeks, extracted some confessional statements from him and then handed him over to the State Criminal Investigations Department, CID, Awka who also did thorough investigations and stumbled into evidences before  charging to court.