Updated: Court sentences four to death over Owo church attack

By Tolulope Oke

The Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced four members of the Al-Shabaab terrorist group to death by hanging over the June 5, 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State.

The convicts are Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, 25; Al Qasim Idris, 20; Jamiu Abdulmalik, 26; and Abdulhaleem Idris, 25.

They were found guilty on a nine-count terrorism charge filed by the Department of State Services, DSS, on behalf of the Federal Government.

However, the fifth defendant, Momoh Otuho Abubakar, 47, was discharged by the court for want of evidence linking him to the attack.

Delivering judgment on Wednesday, Justice Emeka Nwite held that the prosecution proved its case against the four defendants beyond reasonable doubt.

The judge said the evidence before the court established that the four convicts were members of the terrorist group and actively participated in the deadly attack on the church.

The attack occurred during Pentecost service and left more than 40 worshippers dead, while over 100 others sustained injuries.

The court was told that the defendants were principal members of an Al-Shabaab terrorist cell operating in Kogi State.

According to the prosecution, the terrorists invaded the church, held worshippers hostage and caused massive destruction using improvised explosive devices, IEDs, and AK-47 rifles.

The prosecution said the attack was carried out in furtherance of the group’s extremist religious ideology.

To establish its case, the prosecution called 11 witnesses and tendered 23 exhibits before the court.

The exhibits included confessional statements, a digital forensic examination report and a Technophone allegedly containing communications exchanged by the defendants before and after the attack.

One of the witnesses, a Catholic priest, gave a chilling account of how the attackers detonated at least three explosives inside the church while worshippers were gathered for service.

Justice Nwite held that the evidence of the prosecution witnesses, alongside the exhibits tendered, sufficiently linked the four defendants to the attack.

He subsequently convicted them and sentenced them to death by hanging.

The judgment comes more than four years after the Owo church massacre, one of the deadliest attacks on a place of worship in Nigeria in recent years.
the four defendants and sentenced them to death by hanging.