A drama of some sort played itself out at an Onitsha High Court 5, on Tuesday, as proceedings on a kidnap case had to be stalled, following the failure of officials of Onitsha Prisons to produce the kidnap suspects in court.
When the case came up for hearing before Justice Chudi Nwankwo, the court was told that the suspects were not conveyed to court by Prisons officials on the reason that there was no official vehicle to convey them.
One of the suspects, who lead the kidnap operation, Onyineanya, was said to be in Onitsha Prisons, while Okafor was to be conveyed from Awka Prisons. However, speaking to newsmen, the prosecution counsel, Mr Chris Ajugwe, said that the suspects were duly served with notice of hearing, adding that the notice was followed up with production notice to the prison officials.
Commenting on the issue, the victim of the kidnap, Chief GUO Okeke, regretted the undue delay on hearing the kidnap case which had been in the court for many years now: “I have been here since 9.00a.m. and information later came that the prisons officials were not bringing the suspects, because according to them, there was no vehicle to convey the suspects.
The victim said that when he received the information, he quickly hired a vehicle for the belief to go and assist the prisons officials, but they rejected the vehicle, on the ground that they would not use an unofficial vehicle to convey the suspects. Meanwhile, the presiding judge, Justice Chudi Nwankwo, adjourned for the hearing on the matter until May 6, so as to enable the Prison officials produce the suspects in court.
