Two more witnesses yesterday testified against the five defendants put on trial by the Department of State Service (DSS) for allegedly masterminding the June 5, 2022, terror attacks against the Saint Francis Savier Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, at the Federal High Court Abuja.
The attack, which involved shootings and the use of dynamites against the church, left 41 worshippers instantly dead and over 100 suffered various degrees of injuries, including amputations of legs.
At yesterday’s proceedings, the two witnesses codenamed SSB and SSC pathetically narrated how the gunmen stormed the church, locked up the main entrance door and fired several gunshots at worshippers.
A lady witness, codenamed SSB, a student from Anambra State, told Justice Emeka Nwite how the hoodlums forced their way into the church, fired gunshots at the choir gallery, during which pandemonium took over the church.
According to her, a dynamite was set at her head to blow her up for having the audacity to raise her head when one of the assailants was talking, but she swiftly moved her body only for her left leg to be shattered by the heavy explosion of the dynamite.
Led in evidence by lawyer for the DSS Ayodeji Adedipe (SAN), the witness showed the damaged left leg to the court upon permission to do so. She confirmed that the damaged leg was operated four times by medical experts before she could manage it to walk.
The SSC noted with sadness that iron was fixed in the leg to support it and that the iron had not been removed from the leg to date. She said her brother’s cousin, of two years was not lucky during the attack as he was shot in the back of his head and died on the spot.
The second witness, code-named SSB, had earlier narrated the same story of the attack and how 40 worshippers were counted dead shortly after the gunmen left the scene of the attack. He confirmed that the church was bombed three times with dynamite, which resulted in serious damage to the church.
The two witnesses confirmed that they were invited by the DSS to its Akure office, where they volunteered their statements on May 26, 2024. Meanwhile, the two extra-judicial statements made by the two witnesses to DSS were admitted as Exhibits B and C by Justice Nwite following the absence of objections to their admission.
