An Abuja Federal High Court has sentenced four terrorists convicted for the June 5, 2022 attack on Saint Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, to death by hanging.
The judgment was delivered on Wednesday by Justice Emeka Nwite, who found the four defendants guilty on all nine counts filed against them by the Federal Government.
The convicts are Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, 25; Al Qasim Idris, 20; Jamiu Abdulmalik, 26; and Abdulhaleem Idris, 25.
Justice Nwite held that the prosecution successfully proved its case against the defendants and consequently sentenced them to death by hanging until they are dead.
The case stemmed from the horrific attack on Saint Francis Catholic Church in Owo on June 5, 2022, during which gunmen opened fire on worshipers and detonated explosives, killing 43 people and injuring several others.
In the same judgment, the court discharged and acquitted the fifth defendant, Momoh Otuho Abubakar, 47, after finding insufficient evidence to sustain the charges against him.
The verdict brings to a close one of Nigeria’s most high-profile terrorism trials arising from the Owo church massacre, an attack that shocked the nation and drew widespread condemnation from within and outside the country.
