The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday sentenced four members of the Al-Shabaab terrorist group to death by hanging for their involvement in the June 5, 2022, attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, which left more than 40 worshippers dead and over 100 others injured.
The trial judge, Justice Emeka Nwite, made the declaration 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 on behalf of the Federal Government.
The court, however, discharged and acquitted the fifth defendant, Momoh Otuho Abubakar, 47, after finding insufficient evidence linking him to the terrorist attack.
In the judgment, Justice Nwite held that the prosecution successfully established the guilt of the four convicts beyond reasonable doubt, noting that the evidence before the court clearly showed that they were members of, and active participants in, the activities of the terrorist group responsible for the deadly church attack.
The court found that the convicts were principal members of an Al-Shabaab terrorist cell operating in Kogi State and that they took part in the assault on the church during a Pentecost service.
According to the prosecution, the attackers stormed the church, held worshippers hostage, and unleashed violence that resulted in massive casualties and destruction.
They were said to have used improvised explosive devices and AK-47 rifles in attacking furtherance of their extremist religious ideology.
To establish its case, the prosecution called 11 witnesses and tendered 23 exhibits, including confessional statements and a digital forensic examination report.
Among the exhibits admitted by the court was a technophone device alleged to contain communications exchanged by the defendants before and after the attack.
One of the prosecution witnesses, a Catholic priest who survived the incident, gave a chilling account of how the assailants detonated at least three explosive devices inside the church, triggering panic and bloodshed among worshippers.
Justice Nwite held that the totality of the evidence presented by the prosecution firmly linked the four convicts to the attack and justified their conviction on the terrorism charges.
