An eighth witness of the Department of State Services (DSS) in the ongoing trial of suspected attackers of St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, in 2022, has corroborated Tuesday’s testimony of the seventh witness, who identified one of the suspects as being among those who carried out the attack.
Like the seventh DSS witness did on Tuesday, the eighth witness also identified the second defendant, Al Quasim Idris, as being among those who allegedly killed the worshippers.
The witness, an Amotekun operative, told a Federal High Court in Abuja that he was one of the officers who arrived at the church premises shortly after the attack. He identified Al Quasim Idris as one of those who, shortly after the attack, exchanged gunfire at close range with him in a nearby bush.
The DSS is prosecuting Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza (25), Al Quasim Idris (20), Jamiu Abdulmalik (26), Abdulhaleem Idris (25), and Momoh Otuho Abubakar (47) over the June 5, 2022 attack on the church.
Earlier on Tuesday, another Amotekun officer, listed as the seventh DSS witness, identified Al Quasim Idris in open court as one of those with whom he came face-to-face during a gunfight.
Led in evidence by the prosecuting lawyer, Ayodeji Adedipe (SAN), the witness, code-named SSH, gave details of how they trailed and tried to apprehend the attackers, leading to an exchange of gunfire with Al Quasim Idris.
SSH said: “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 another call that there was an attack at St. Francis Church, Owo.
“So, we were asked to withdraw and head 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, among them women and children.”
The witness added: “We later came outside the church and learnt that the attackers were four in number and that they zoomed off in a blue Nissan car as we were arriving.
“We got into our vehicle and started to trail them towards Ute Road because that was the information we received. We were able to get close to them because our vehicle was better than the one they were in.”
SSH further stated, “The attackers abruptly parked their car and ran into the bush. One of our men and a volunteer hunter went after them while the rest of us waited strategically.”
The witness said it was during an intense gun battle with the attackers in the bush that he sighted Al Quasim Idris. However, he added that the assailants succeeded in killing the volunteer hunter.
“We were able to return to the bush to retrieve the hunter’s body,” the witness stated.
The Amotekun officer said they later took the Nissan car to their office before it was moved to their state headquarters.
Under cross-examination by counsel to the defendants, Abdullahi Mohammad, the witness said he could not remember how many of them retrieved the hunter’s corpse from the bush.
When asked whether they made efforts to identify the actual owner of the Nissan car, the witness said that before they moved the vehicle to the state headquarters in Akure, the owner came to their office and identified himself.
Asked if they interviewed the owner of the vehicle, the witness said this was done in their office, but he was not part of those who conducted the interview.
At the conclusion of the cross-examination, Adedipe prayed the court to grant a three-day consecutive adjournment to enable the prosecution to call its last set of witnesses and close its case.
Counsel to the defendants did not oppose the adjournment.
The trial judge, Justice Emeka Nwite, subsequently adjourned the case to March 24, 25, and 26 for continuation of the trial.
