BREAKING: COURT SENTENCES FOUR TO DEATH BY HANGING OVER OWO CHURCH ATTACK
Read Time:1 Minute, 34 Second
By;Sunmola Ganiyat
The Federal High Court in Abuja has convicted and sentenced four members of the Al-Shabaab terrorist group to death by hanging for their roles in the June 5, 2022, attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State.
The defendants were found guilty on a nine-count terrorism charge filed by the Department of State Services (DSS) on behalf of the Federal Government. The convicted persons are Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza (25), Al-Qasim Idris (20), Jamiu Abdulmalik (26), and Abdulhaleem Idris (25), while the fifth defendant, Momoh Otuho Abubakar (47), was discharged and acquitted for lack of sufficient evidence linking him to the attack.
Delivering judgment on Wednesday, Justice Emeka Nwite held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. He ruled that the evidence presented clearly established that the four convicted persons were members of the terrorist group and actively participated in the attack on the church.
The attack, which took place during the Pentecost service, left more than 40 worshippers dead and over 100 others injured, making it one of the deadliest assaults on a place of worship in recent years.
Court records showed that the convicts were alleged principal members of a terrorist cell operating in Kogi State, who stormed the church, held worshippers hostage, and carried out extensive destruction.
They were also accused of using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and AK-47 rifles in executing the assault, which prosecutors said was driven by extremist ideology.
The prosecution called 11 witnesses during the trial and tendered 23 exhibits, including confessional statements and a digital forensic report. A mobile device allegedly containing communications between the defendants before and after the attack was also admitted as evidence.
A Catholic priest who testified before the court gave a harrowing account of the incident, describing how the attackers detonated multiple explosives inside the church during the service.
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0