Owo church attack: Worshipper tells court how she lost both legs, one eye

Coffins of killed worshippers during the attack

​A woman has narrated how she lost both legs and an eye on June 5, 2022, during an attack on St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo state.

The woman, identified by the court as SSD (for privacy reasons), testified alongside her husband before a federal high court in Abuja in the ongoing trial of five men accused of carrying out the attack.

The Department of State Services (DSS) is prosecuting Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris, and Momoh Otuho Abubakar on a nine-count charge.The terrorist attack claimed the lives of over 40 worshippers and left more than 100 others injured.

‘I STEPPED OVER CORPSES LOOKING FOR MY SON’

Testifying as the fifth prosecution witness (PW5), the husband, identified by the court as SSE, said he attended the mass with his mother, wife, and their three children on the day of the attack.

He told the court that the congregation had just received the final blessing when gunshots rang out, adding that worshippers initially thought the sound was from celebratory fireworks.

“So, we thought it was a banger that people throw to commemorate the event of Pentecost. But later, the sound continued, approaching the church,” he said.

According to him, a church warden, known as the man of discipline (MOD), ordered everyone to lie down and locked the main entrance.

“He (MOD) ran to the entrance door and closed it. By then, the gunmen were already around the church’s premises but could not enter through the entrance door,” the witness said.

“They were then shooting through the windows, and those who wanted to escape, they shot them outside. When the MOD discovered that he could no longer withstand it, he left the entrance door, and the assailants gained entrance into the church.