Bomb Shattered My 2 Legs, 1 Eye In Owo Church Massacre, Witness Tells Court

A witness of the Department of State Service (DSS) with the code name SSD has told Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, that the explosive device used to attack St. Francis Catholic Savier Church in Owo, Ondo State, on June 5, 2022, shattered her two legs and were later amputated above her knees.

The witness, a trained nurse and housewife, on Wednesday, told the court that she also lost her left eye to the explosions.

While testifying in a terrorism charge against five defendants accused of masterminding the Owo Church attack and massacre of worshippers, the witness informed the court that she has since been confined to the wheelchair for the rest of her life as a result of the attack.

The five defendants accused of masterminding the terror attacks are Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza (25 years), Al Qasim Idris (20 years), Jamiu Abdulmalik (26 years), Abdulhaleem Idris (25 years) and Momoh Otuho Abubakar (47 years).

They, however, pleaded not guilty to the 9-count charge during their arraignment last year.

She further stated that her left eye has also permanently gone blind as a result of the severity of the attack on the church.

Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Ayodeji Adedipe, SAN, the victim, who is an eyewitness in the terror attack, narrated how the terrorists stormed the church shooting sporadically and making her to run to the choir gallery of the church building for safety out of fear for her dear life.

While at the choir gallery, she told the court that because of the thick crowd at the gallery, the assailants threw explosive device suspected to be dynamite, which led to the destruction of human beings including her two legs and her eye shattered.

She said she spent five months in the hospital before she was finally discharged and added that 41 members of the church lost their lives and several others sustained various degrees of injury in the incident.

After her evidence, the DSS lawyer called the fifth prosecution witness code-named SSE, who was also an eyewitness and the husband to the fourth prosecution witness.

The witness, a civil servant residing in Owo, Ondo State, narrated how the terrorists attacked the church on the fateful day, killing 41 parishioners and left about 100 people injured.

Aside his wife (SSD) who lost her two legs and a left eye in the incident, he stated that her mother also sustained knee injury, adding that he signed at the hospital for the amputation of his wife’s two legs.

The witness said that after the amputation of his wife’s legs, the Ondo State government promised her artificial legs but that the vendor was unable to provide a useful artificial legs until the tenure of the government elapsed.

“The current Ondo State government is not doing anything about her again. Several times, I called the state Commissioner for Health, but they are not doing anything about it,” he told the court.

The court admitted the statements of the two prosecution witnesses as exhibits and thereafter fixed February 10 and 11 for continuation of trial.