By Ogungbayi Adeyemi S. | adeyemi@ddnewsonline.com
Editor, DDNews |
The Federal High Court in Abuja has convicted and sentenced four members of the Al-Shabaab terrorist group to death by hanging for their roles in the deadly June 5, 2022, attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State.
Justice Emeka Nwite, in a judgment delivered on Wednesday, found Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza (25), Al Qasim Idris (20), Jamiu Abdulmalik (26), and Abdulhaleem Idris (25) guilty on a nine-count terrorism charge filed by the Department of State Services (DSS) on behalf of the Federal Government.
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The fifth defendant, Momoh Otuho Abubakar (47), was discharged and acquitted for lack of sufficient evidence linking him to the attack.
Justice Nwite held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, establishing that the four convicts belonged to and actively participated in the terrorist group’s activities, including the church attack.
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The Pentecost Sunday attack, carried out while worshippers were celebrating, resulted in the deaths of more than 40 people and left over 100 others seriously injured.
The court heard that the defendants, described as principal members of an Al-Shabaab terrorist cell operating in Kogi State, invaded the church, held worshippers hostage, and caused extensive destruction using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and AK-47 rifles in furtherance of their religious ideology.
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To prove the case, the prosecution called 11 witnesses and tendered 23 exhibits, including confessional statements and a digital forensic examination report from a Technophone allegedly used by the defendants for communication before and after the attack.
One of the witnesses, a Catholic priest, gave a chilling account of how the assailants detonated no fewer than three explosives inside the church during the service.
The conviction and death sentence bring some measure of justice to the victims and their families, more than three years after one of the deadliest attacks on a place of worship in Nigeria’s history.
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By Ogungbayi Adeyemi S. (Beedee)
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