A nurse, who worked with the Ondo State Hospital Management Board, yesterday narrated how she lost her legs and left eye in the June 5, 2022, terrorist attack on St. Francis Catholic Church Owo in Ondo State.

The witness, codenamed ‘SSD’ by the Department of State Services (DSS), told the Federal High Court, Abuja that the explosive device used to attack the church by terrorists shattered her two legs.

While testifying in the terrorism charges against five defendants accused of masterminding the attack, the witness told Justice Emeka Nwite that she has since been confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life as a result of the attack.

The DSS, in nine amended charges, is prosecuting Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza (25), Al Qasim Idris (20), Jamiu Abdulmalik (26), Abdulhaleem Idris (25) and Momoh Otuho Abubakar (47) for their alleged roles in the attack. Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel Ayodeji Adedipe (SAN) the victim said she spent five months in hospital before she was finally discharged.

The nurse added that 41 members of the church lost their lives and several others sustained varying degrees of injury in the incident. After her evidence, the DSS lawyer called the fifth prosecution witness, codenamed ‘SSE’.

The civil servant and the nurse’s husband also narrated how the terrorists attacked the church. According to him, he signed at the hospital for the amputation of his wife’s two legs. The court admitted the statements of the two prosecution witnesses as exhibits and fixed February 10 and 11 for the continuation of the trial.