Catholic minster, nurse daughter and tycoon granddaughter charged with sending money to son in ISIS

A 72-year-old Catholic lay minister has appeared in court alongside her daughter and granddaughter, charged with sending money to her son in Syria who had joined ISIS.

Olga Monpeke, 72, a eucharistic minister at St Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Archway, North London, is a former nursery nurse and the director of a company which offers first aid training.

She appeared alongside her daughter, Stella Oyella, 52, a psychiatric nurse, and granddaughter, Vanessa Atim, 31, a businesswoman who founded a company called ProInterns, both from Plaistow, east London.

The three women appeared in the dock at the Old Bailey on Friday 18 November, charged with making money available for the purposes of terrorism, contrary to section 17 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

The offences were said to be committed between March 2017 and October 2017, when Joseph Ogaba was allegedly fighting for ISIS in Syria.

Lee Ingham, prosecuting, told the hearing the charges were ‘in the context of a relative, the Crown say, was then fighting for Daesh [ISIS].’

The family was informed in April this year that Ogaba had died in a detention camp run by Western-backed forces.

He is said to have left the country sometime before 30 September 2014 when Ms Monpeke reported him missing to the police.

Evidence from a computer he left behind and a hard drive found in Syria suggested that Ogaba had joined ISIS the same year, prosecutors said.

Ogaba stayed in touch with his family by phone from Syria and messaged to say he ‘desperately needed the money because of the situation he was in,’ without expressly saying what for.

‘There is no evidence that the family supported what he had done,’ the prosecution said.

 Vanessa Atim (pictured) from east London appeared at the Old Bailey on Friday 18 November

Stella Oyella (pictured), Olga Monpeke and Vanessa Atim will go on trial next November

The money was allegedly sent through Uganda and the amounts received by Ogaba were said to be ‘at least in excess of £1,000.’

However, prosecutors cannot be precise about how much got through and, on one occasion, £1,500 was stolen by a middle-man.

Ms Monpeke, who lives in Finsbury Park, North London, is a Ugandan national who has been living in Britain since 1989 and her daughter and grand-daughter are both British citizens.

A eucharistic minister helps distribute the bread and wine at communion in the Catholic Church.

Tom Wainwright, defending, told the hearing the finance was ‘not straight forward’ and the defence was ‘likely to be carrying out inquiries abroad.’

A date for trial was set on November 13 next year and all three defendants were granted bail.

Olga Monpeke is a eucharistic minister at St Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Archway