Court hands death sentence to four linked to Owo church massacre

The Federal High Court in Abuja, yesterday, 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.

Those found guilty on a nine-count terrorism charge filed by the Department of State Services, DSS, on behalf of the Federal Government were Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza (25), Al Qasim Idris (20), Jamiu Abdulmalik (26), and Abdulhaleem Idris (25), while the 5th defendant, Momoh Otuho Abubakar (47), was discharged for want of evidence linking him to the attack.

Delivering judgment in the matter, Justice Emeka Nwite, who presided, said he was satisfied that the prosecution proved its case against the four convicts beyond a reasonable doubt.

He held that the evidence before the court established that they belonged to and actively participated in the activities of the terrorist group, which included the church attack.

The attack, carried out while the church celebrated Pentecost, resulted in the deaths of more than 40 people and serious injuries to over 100 others.

The court was told that the convicts, who were principal members of an Al-Shabaab terrorist cell operating in Kogi State, invaded the church and held worshippers hostage, during which they caused extensive destruction.

It was alleged that they used improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and AK-47 rifles to perpetrate the attack in furtherance of their religious ideology.

Among the items admitted in evidence were confessional statements and a Digital Forensic Examination Report, tendered alongside a Tecno phone alleged to contain communications exchanged by the convicts before and after the terror attack.

Meanwhile, the convicts, some of whom testified in their defence, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Their team of lawyers, led by Mr Abdullahi Mohammad, urged the court to discharge and acquit them on the grounds that the prosecution failed to prove the terrorism charge.

The 1st defendant, Omeiza, who testified in the Ebira language, identified himself as an auxiliary nurse and narrated how he was apprehended in Kogi State and later moved to Ondo State.

He told the court that he was arrested on August 1, 2022, after DSS operatives stormed his residence around 2 a.m.

While denying his involvement in the attack, Omeiza alleged that he was detained, chained, and repeatedly beaten until he fainted.

The court had declined to conduct a trial-within-a-trial after the defendants denied the confessional statements that were attributed to them.

They alleged that they were coerced into confessing to a crime they did not commit, insisting they were not the makers of the statements.

However, Justice Nwite overruled them and admitted the statements, stressing that the defence lawyers did not controvert the claim that their clients’ signatures and thumbprints were on the statements.

Reacting to the judgment, yesterday, counsel to the convicts, Mr Mohammad, said he would take the matter before the Court of Appeal.

Likewise, the Federal Government’s lawyer, Mr Ayodeji Adedipe, SAN, said the prosecution would also review the judgment to determine whether to appeal the discharge of the 5th defendant.