Four members of the Al-Shabaab terrorist group to death by hanging by the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday,over their involvement in the June 5, 2022, attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State.
The massacre left more than 40 worshippers dead and over 100 others injured.
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.
