By Ayomide Otitoju
Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has admitted additional confessional statements and a Digital Forensic Examination Report in the trial of five defendants accused of involvement in the June 5, 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Ondo State, which left 41 people dead and 140 others injured.
The court also admitted a Tecno mobile phone alleged to contain communications exchanged among the defendants before and after the incident.
The exhibits were admitted without objection from defence counsel, Abdullahi Mohammed. Following the admission, the Department of State Services (DSS), which is prosecuting the case, closed its case after calling 11 witnesses.
Justice Nwite subsequently adjourned proceedings to March 4 and 5 for the defendants to open their defence.
Earlier, defence counsel informed the court that the accused persons would testify in their own defence and requested that the DSS grant him access to them in custody to facilitate preparation.
Testifying as the final prosecution witness, a senior DSS operative identified by the code name PSSK told the court that investigators deployed geospatial network filtering technology to analyse thousands of mobile phone lines active around Egbeka and Ifon.
He said the investigation was narrowed to the phone of the fifth defendant, Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, leading to his arrest in Ifon, Ondo State. According to the witness, Omeiza’s confession led to the arrest of the other four defendants.
The operative added that forensic analysis showed the defendants communicated with one another before and after the attack, insisting their arrests resulted from technological investigation rather than coincidence.
Under cross-examination, the witness stated that the post-incident investigation lasted over a month and that all five defendants were arrested in August 2022 at different locations in Kogi and Ondo states.
