The Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced four members of the Al-Shabaab terrorist group to death by hanging over their involvement in the June 5, 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, which claimed the lives of more than 40 worshippers and left over 100 others injured.
Delivering judgment on Wednesday, Justice Emeka Nwite found Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, 25; Al Qasim Idris, 20; Jamiu Abdulmalik, 26; and Abdulhaleem Idris, 25, guilty on a nine-count terrorism charge brought by the Department of State Services (DSS) on behalf of the Federal Government. The court, however, acquitted and discharged the fifth defendant, Momoh Otuho Abubakar, 47, after holding that the prosecution failed to establish a sufficient link between him and the attack.
The court held that the prosecution successfully proved beyond reasonable doubt that the four convicted men were members of an Al-Shabaab terrorist cell operating in Kogi State and played active roles in the deadly assault on the church during a Pentecost service.
According to the prosecution, the attackers invaded the church during worship, held congregants hostage, and carried out the attack using improvised explosive devices and AK-47 rifles in furtherance of their extremist ideology.
During the trial, the prosecution called 11 witnesses and tendered 23 exhibits, including confessional statements and a digital forensic report. Among the exhibits admitted in evidence was a Tecno mobile phone allegedly containing communications exchanged by the defendants before and after the attack.
A Catholic priest who survived the incident testified that the assailants detonated at least three explosive devices inside the church, causing panic and resulting in multiple deaths and injuries among worshippers.
In his judgment, Justice Nwite held that the evidence presented by the prosecution firmly established the involvement of the four defendants in the attack. The court subsequently sentenced them to death by hanging.