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7 months ago
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Friends of an NHS nurse and her tech start up daughter have blasted their prison sentence after they were jailed for 'funding ISIS' after they sent cash to buy food for a relative who joined the banned terror group.
Psychiatric nurse Stella Oyella, 53, and her daughter Vanessa Atim, 32, of Newham, East London were jailed for three years following a hearing at the Old Bailey.
The pair were convicted of sending more than £1,800 to Joseph Ogaba who ran away to join ISIS in 2014. Ogaba was Oyella's brother and Atim's uncle.
Their home is on the site of the former chapel of Plaistow Maternity Hospital which was responsible for the births of generations of east Londoners from West Ham and Newham between 1889 and its eventual closure in 1977.
Today, the mother and daughter are now in prison, expected to serve at least 18 months before being considered for release. On their quiet residential street, there is a sense of unease about what happened to the family.
A family friend told MailOnline: 'We cannot believe they have been jailed. Even the judge said they were not driven by ideology. It is a case of emotional blackmail.
‘Joseph kept messaging them saying if they didn’t send him money he was going to starve.'
Vanessa Atim, 32, pictured, was jailed for three years and nine months after she was convicted of supporting terrorism for providing cash to her uncle Joseph Ogaba who had joined ISIS in September 2014
Ms Atim and her mother Stella Oyela, pictured, were both imprisoned after they were found guilty at the Old Bailey
Joseph Ogaba, pictured, was raised a Catholic and was even an altar boy in Finsbury Park in north London, but converted to Islam while serving a prison sentence for aggravated burglary between 2004 and 2006. In September 2014 he left a note to his family saying he was going to Syria
They added: ‘They were not supporting terrorism. They were supporting a brother and an uncle.
‘He would tell them, “send me money or I’m going to die. I need to eat”.
‘They were not supporting terrorism.’
Locals said terrorism is motivated by hate and division. The family are deeply religious and spiritual. The judge sentencing them to a lengthy jail term acknowledged they had not been influenced by the terrorist ideology.
Oyella was described by former NHS colleagues as 'a fantastic human being'.
Her parish priest Fr John Armitage also gave her a glowing character reference during the trial.
Atim was a delegate to the Commonwealth Youth Leaders' Forum.
Both were known in the area for helping others.
Speaking to MailOnline, next door neighbour Zohra Hamid, 40, said what has happened to the family is unfair.
She has known them for more than 20 years. She said: 'We were all so shocked when we heard what happened. We saw them grow up next door. They were such kind and generous people. They were never any trouble.
‘They are honest decent hard working people. It is ridiculous to call them terrorists.
‘They sent money to a family member to buy food.
Locals in Newham said it was wrong to describe Atim, pictured, and her mother as 'terrorist supporters'
Friends of the family claim Atim, pictured, and her mother were 'emotionally blackmailed' by Ogaba who fled to Syria in 2014 having converted to Islam in jail
The family lived in this house in Newham which was built on the site of the chapel of the former Plaistow Maternity Hospital
‘Joseph should not have been in Syria, but Stella and Vanessa couldn’t just abandon him.
‘Many people in a similar situation would make the same decision.
‘How can you prosecute someone for giving money to a family member to buy food.
‘They are very nice people and jailing them for three years is disproportionate.’
Ms Hamid said she helped Atim secure a job with the NHS during lockdown.
She added: ‘there should have been another way of dealing with this. These are honest, decent people.’
Ogaba grew up as a Roman Catholic and even served as an altar boy in Finsbury Park, north London. However, while in jail between 2004 and 2006 he converted to Islam while serving time for aggravated burglary and became increasingly radicalised.
He fled the family home in September 2014 leaving behind a note to his mother which read: ' I know you probably think I am crazy or something.
'I am not going because I dislike you or anything like that.
'I am going to implement sharia law. I have full conviction in what my brothers are doing. I love you mum and hope you revert to Islam one day.'
The Old Bailey saw images of Ogaba posing with a range of weapons including assault rifles, though it is not thought the family were aware of these photographs.
Indeed, the family reported Ogaba's disappearance to police shortly after he vanished.
Authorities were later able to track his progress through Germany and Turkey before crossing into Syria.
The street where the family lived is a mixture of social housing and private residences - many of which would have been purchased under right to buy schemes.
Atim, pictured, was described in court as the 'lynchpin' in efforts to send cash to her uncle who was later captured by Syrian Defence Forces who seized computer equipment which provided evidence against his sister and his niece
Atim, left, and Oyela, right, sent more than £1,800 in cash to Ogaba. Friends claim Ogaba 'emotionally blackmailed' both women claiming that without food he was going to die. However, prosecutors
It is a mixture of old terraced houses featuring handmade London Yellow Stock bricks which were used extensively across the city and the south east. Newer homes on the street use a variety of colours, never quite fitting in with the existing properties.
Private terraced houses built in the inter war period in the area regularly sell for more than £500,000. One end of terrace house featuring five bedrooms, two en-suites, two reception rooms and a cellar increased in value by more than 500 per cent between October 1999 and October 2022 - rocketing from £87,000 to £550,000.
Yet, the area, which is a short walk from Plaistow park has a higher percentage of social housing compared with the rest of the country.
It was here that Stella Oyella has lived for more than two decades, along with her daughter Vanessa Atim.
Commander Dominic Murphy, who leads the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command said: 'These women went to great lengths to first arrange, and then distance themselves from money transfers to Ogaba.
'They knew he had travelled to Syria to join a terrorist group and by sending him cash, they helped him remain with Daesh [ISIS].
'This case shows how we work with our international partners to close the net on people who support terrorist activity, no matter how much time has passed.'
There was anger in the public gallery as Judge Mark Dennis KC handed down the jail terms.
During the sentencing hearing, Judge Dennis accepted neither woman were motivated by the terror organisation's extremist beliefs and said Ogaba was manipulating a close family bond for his living expenses.
Atim pictured, had travelled to Uganda where she was described as a 'lynchpin' in supplying her uncle with cash
Atim, pictured, had been stopped by authorities returning to Britain from Uganda in March and December 2018 after flying into Heathrow and Gatwick Airports where officials downloaded data from her devices which included messaging app conversations referencing money transactions - these messages would later prove crucial in the convictions.
Ogaba holds an AK-47 inside a carpeted living room with a bottle of Pepsi Max on the floor
Judge Dennis said: 'You both turned a blind eye to what your brother and uncle was engaged in and in so doing you were in effect giving support for terrorist activity which in 2017 he was still associated with.
'However, taken that your motivation was not ideological or a desire to engage in such activities, you knew what you were doing was wrong and could get you into trouble.'
Ogaba was captured after the fall of ISIS and was held in a Syrian detention camp until his death from tuberculosis in and around July 2022.
It was his capture and the seizure of a laptop by Syrian forces which led to his sister and niece's incarceration.
Prosecutors said the family had used 'middlemen' to funnel cash to Ogaba. The payments were discovered after Syrian Democratic Forces discovered a computer hard drive in 2018 and handed it over to the US coalition who examined the data.
They found photographs of Ogaba handing weapons as well as details of the cash payments. This information has handed over to British authorities who decided to prosecute the family.
Another neighbour Evangeline Suuvi who has lived in the area since 1997 told MailOnline: 'I am shocked. We never had any problems next door. It is an unfortunate situation but what they did was definitely a terrorist offence. It is a very big thing, giving money to a terrorist. They shouldn’t have done it.
'They knew they were doing wrong.'
According to Scotland Yard: 'On March 12, 2018 and again on December 21, 2018 ports officers detained Atim at Heathrow and Gatwick Airports respectively, using powers under Schedule 7 of Terrorism Act 2000.
'On each occasion, devices were seized and the contents downloaded by officers. They recovered messaging app conversations with references to money transactions.
'The significance of these conversations became clear in 2019, when detectives analysed a computer hard drive linked to Ogaba and recovered by Syrian authorities the preview years.'
Ogaba posed on a high-powered Suzuki motorbike while holding an AK-47
A photo showing the ISIS fighter posing next to the blanket covered with shells and bullets
Analysts found extremist content as well as photographs showing Ogaba with high-powered assault rifles.
The evidence showed how the nurse and her daughter arranged for money to be collected in the UK before being transferred to Uganda, and then to the Middle East where the cash would be delivered to Ogaba.
This evidence was crucial to the prosecution.
The area where the family lived is undergoing massive change. It is one of the most deprived parts of the capital.
According to the most recent census data, only 15.4 per cent own their own home outright - compared with 32.5 per cent of the rest of the country, with a further 19.5 per cent with a mortgage. Nationwide that figure is 29.8 per cent.
Almost one third of people are in social rented accommodation compared with the national figure of 17.1 per cent.
Like Oyella, there are a higher than average number of people involved in caring, leisure and other service occupations - 15.8 per cent compared with 9.3 per cent nationally.
Fewer people are at management, director or senior official level, or with professional occupations.
The family are with the 44.3 per cent of people in the area who consider themselves Christian, compared with the English average of 46.3 per cent.
The area is very mutli cultural with 29.9 per cent declaring themselves white. Almost 30 per cent describe themselves as Black, with a further 27.7 per cent Asian. Mixed or multiple ethnic groups account for 4.8 per cent while 'other' ethnic groups are 7.9 per cent of the population.
Yet 73.4 per cent of people say they have one or more UK identity, with 3.4 per cent having a UK and non-UK identity.
A further 23.2 per cent say they have a non-UK identity.
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