The 8th prosecution witness (PW-8), on Wednesday, gave details of efforts made to apprehend the suspected terrorists who allegedly attacked St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State on June 5, 2022.
The PW-8, who was a member of the Amotekun Security Network, told Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja while being led in evidence by counsel for the Department of State Services (DSS), Ayodeji Adedipe, SAN.
The witness, simply identified as “SSH” for security reasons, said he was one of the officials deployed to go to the scene of the attack.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the DSS is prosecuting Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza (25 years), Al Qasim Idris 20 years), Jamiu Abdulmalik (26 years), Abdulhaleem Idris (25 years) and Momoh Otuho Abubakar (47 years) on alleged terrorism offences in respect of the church attack.
At least, 40 worshippers were killed and over 100 persons sustained varying degree of injuries.
Led in evidence by Adedipe, the witness chronicled how the team made efforts to arrest the attackers.
“On June 5, 2022 as an operative of Amotekun, we received a distress call from the anti-kidnapping squad.
“We were on an anti-kidnapping mission when we received a call that there was an attack at the St. Francis Church, Owo.
“So, we were asked to withdraw and go to St Francis Church. On getting to the church, we met a crowd and managed to enter the premises.
“When we entered the church premises, we saw several dead bodies on the floor, both inside and around the church, including some injured people, including women and children,” he said.
The witness added: “We later came outside the church to gather information, and learnt that the attackers were four in number and that they left the church in a blue Nissan car.
“We got into our vehicle and started to trail them towards Ute Road, because that was the information we got.
“We were able to get close to them because our vehicle was more efficient than the one they were carrying.”
SSH said at a point, the attackers “suddenly parked their car and ran into the bush. One of our men and a volunteer went after them while the rest of us waited strategically.”
The witness said they later heard gun shots, adding: “After a while of gun shots, our colleague came out of the bush and informed us that the hunter has been killed.
“We were able to get back to the bush to take the body of the hunter,” the witness said.
He added that they later took the Nissan car to their office, before it was moved to the state headquarters of Amotekun.
Under cross-examination by defence lawyer, Abdullahi Mohammad, the witness said he could not remember how many of them brought out the hunter’s corpse from the bush.
On whether they made efforts to identify the actual owner of the Nissan car, the witness said: “Before we moved the vehicle to the state headquarters in Akure, the owner came to our office to identify himself as the owner of the vehicle.”
When asked if they interviewed the owner of the vehicle, the witness said the interview was conducted in their office, but that he was not part of those who interviewed the owner of the car..
At the conclusion of the cross-examination, Adedipe prayed the court to grant an adjournment to three consecutive days to allow the prosecution called its last set of witnesses and close its case.
The defence lawyer did not oppose, following which Justice Emeka Nwite adjourned until March 24, 25 and 26 for continuation of trial.