Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has admitted additional confessional statements and a Digital Forensic Examination Report against five defendants standing trial for their alleged involvement in the June 5, 2022 terror attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, in which 41 people were killed and 140 others injured.
The trial judge also accepted into evidence a Tecno mobile phone said to contain communications exchanged among the defendants before and after the attack.
The exhibits were admitted without objection from Abdullahi Mohammed, counsel to the five defendants.
During the proceedings, the Department of State Services (DSS), prosecuting the matter, formally closed its case after presenting 11 witnesses in support of the charges.
Following the closure of the prosecution’s case, Justice Nwite adjourned the trial to March 4 and 5 for the defendants to begin their defence.
Earlier, defence counsel informed the court that the accused persons would testify on their own behalf and assured the court that their case could be concluded within a day. He, however, requested an order directing the DSS to grant him access to the defendants in custody to prevent any hindrance in preparing their defence.
At the hearing, the prosecution’s final witness, identified by the code name PSSK, a senior DSS operative overseeing forensic and counter-terrorism operations, recounted how he and his team were deployed to Owo to track down those responsible for the attack.
He explained that investigators deployed geospatial network filtering technology to screen thousands of mobile phone lines that had contact within Egbeka and Ifon.
According to the witness, the process narrowed the investigation to a phone linked to the fifth defendant, Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, leading to his arrest in Ifon, Ondo State.
He further told the court that Omeiza’s confession resulted in the arrest of the four other defendants. Subsequent forensic analysis, he said, showed that the accused persons communicated with one another before and after the attack.
The witness added that three of the defendants made multiple calls around the time of the incident, suggesting prior acquaintance, and maintained that their arrests were the outcome of deliberate technological investigation rather than coincidence.
Under cross-examination, the DSS operative disclosed that the post-attack investigation spanned over a month and that all five defendants were apprehended in August 2022 at different locations in Kogi and Ondo states.