BREAKING: Court sentences four people to death for Owo Church massacre, acquits one

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday sentenced four men to death by hanging for their roles in the deadly attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, which left over 40 people dead and more than 100 worshipers injured.

The trial judge, Emeka Nwite, delivered the verdict after finding the quartet guilty of nine counts of terrorism brought by the Department of State Services on behalf of the federal government.

The convicts are Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, 25; Al-Qasim Idris, 20; Jamiu Abdulmalik, 26; and Abdulhaleem Idris, 25.

However, the court acquitted a fifth defendant, Momoh Otuho Abubakar, 47, citing insufficient evidence linking him to the attack.

In his ruling, Justice Nwite found that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, stressing that the evidence established that the convicts were active members of a terrorist cell linked to the attack.

The court found that the group operated from Kogi State and directly participated in the June 5, 2022 attack on the Catholic Church during a Pentecost service.

According to the indictment, the attackers stormed the church, held worshipers hostage and carried out a coordinated attack using improvised explosive devices and AK-47 rifles, causing numerous casualties and destruction.

To secure the conviction, the prosecution presented 11 witnesses and submitted 23 documents, including confession statements and a digital forensic report. A mobile device admitted into evidence contained communications exchanged by the defendants before and after the attack.

A Catholic priest who survived the incident testified to the court, telling how the attackers detonated several explosive devices inside the church, causing panic and heavy loss of life.

Judge Nwite ruled that the totality of the evidence firmly linked the convicts to the attack, describing them as the main actors in the massacre.

The Owo church attack, one of Nigeria’s bloodiest in recent years, had sparked national and international outrage, with renewed calls at the time for stronger security measures to protect places of worship.

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