Following the upholding of her death sentence by the court of appeal, Maryam Sanda has decided to head to the supreme court Sanda had on November 1
Following the upholding of her death sentence by the court of appeal, Maryam Sanda has decided to head to the supreme court
Sanda had on November 19, 2017 stabbed her husband, Bilyaminu who was a nephew of former Peoples Democratic Party National Chairman, Dr Haliru Bello, to death following an allegation of infidelity against him after seeing a text message on his phone.
Maryam was arrested and arraigned in court by the police.
In January 2020, she was found guilty of murder by the Federal High Court Abuja and was sentenced to death by hanging.
“She should reap what she has sown, for it has been said that ‘thou shall not kill’ and whoever kills in cold blood deserves death as his own reward. Convict also clearly deserves to die, accordingly I hereby sentence Maryam Sanda to death by hanging until she dies,” Halilu said.
Dissatisfied with the ruling, Maryam in February 2020, filed an appeal against the death sentence. She asked the Court of Appeal in Abuja to set aside the verdict and acquit her, on grounds that Justice Yusuf Halilu who handed her the death sentence was “tainted by bias and prejudices.”
She also alleged she wasn’t given a fair hearing and was convicted on circumstantial evidence by the trial judge who reportedly failed to rule on her preliminary objection, challenging the charge preferred against her.
In a notice of appeal predicated on 20 grounds, the appellant through her legal team described the judgment of the trial court as “a miscarriage of justice”.
She submitted that the judge relied on circumstantial evidence as there was “lack of confessional statement, absence of murder weapon, lack of corroboration of evidence by two or more witnesses and lack of autopsy report to determine the true cause of her husband’s death.”
She also submitted the trial judge “erred and misdirected himself by usurping the role of the police when he assumed the duty of an investigating police officer (IPO) as contained in page 76 of his judgment…”
A three-man panel of the court, in a judgment delivered on Friday, December 4, dismissed Ms Sanda’s appeal for lacking in merit.
Her counsel, Joe Gadzama SAN, however, said they are heading to the Supreme court, while Counsel to Police, James Idachaba, praised the judgment and said they are also ready to meet Maryam and her legal team at the apex court.
