Court Sentences Four Owo Church Attackers To Death By Hanging

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has sentenced four members of a terrorist group linked to the June 5, 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, to death by hanging over their involvement in the deadly assault.

Justice Emeka Nwite delivered the judgment on Wednesday after convicting Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, 25; Al-Qasim Idris, 20; Jamiu Abdulmalik, 26; and Abdulhaleem Idris, 25, on a nine-count terrorism charge filed by the Department of State Services (DSS) on behalf of the Federal Government.

The court, however, discharged and acquitted the fifth defendant, Momoh Otuho Abubakar, 47, after ruling that the prosecution failed to sufficiently establish his connection to the attack.

Delivering judgment, Justice Nwite held that the prosecution proved its case against the four convicts beyond reasonable doubt, noting that evidence presented before the court established their membership and active participation in the terrorist group responsible for the attack.

According to findings presented in court, the convicts were members of a terrorist cell operating in Kogi State and participated in the assault on St. Francis Catholic Church during a Pentecost service.

The prosecution alleged that the attackers stormed the church premises, attacked worshippers and carried out the operation using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and AK-47 rifles, resulting in multiple deaths and injuries.

To establish its case, the prosecution called 11 witnesses and tendered 23 exhibits, including confessional statements and digital forensic evidence.

Among the exhibits admitted was a Technophone mobile device allegedly containing communications exchanged by the defendants before and after the attack.

One of the prosecution witnesses, a Catholic priest who survived the incident, narrated how multiple explosive devices were detonated inside the church during the attack, causing panic and heavy casualties among worshippers.

Justice Nwite ruled that the totality of the evidence sufficiently linked the four defendants to the terrorist attack and consequently convicted them on all counts.

He subsequently sentenced the four convicts to death by hanging, while acquitting the fifth defendant for lack of sufficient evidence.