Homicide: Maryam Sanda Sentenced To Death
An FCT High Court on Monday sentenced Maryam Sanda, the woman who stabbed her husband to death, Bilyaminu, son of a former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Haliru Bello, to death by hanging.
Delivering judgment, Justice Yusuf Halilu, convicted her on circumstantial evidence.
The killing was premeditated, the police said.
The police accused Sanda of stabbing her husband with a broken bottle at about 3:50 a.m. on Nov. 18, 2017
The police also accused Maimuna Aliyu, Sanda’s mother; Aliyu, her brother, and Sadiya Aminu, her housemaid, of tampering with evidence by cleaning the blood and other proofs from the crime scene, but charges were later dropped.
The victim, Mr Bello, was the son of a former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Haliru Bello.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Yusuf Halilu said there was compelling evidence to convict the accused.
The judge dismissed Ms Sanda’s statement that her husband fell on a broken Shisha pot during a fight on the ill-fated day as a “smokescreen to deceive the court”.
He said available evidence proved that the accused stabbed her husband with a kitchen knife with intent to ” kill”.
As the judge pronounced Ms Sanda guilty, the accused attempted to run out of the court room while her relatives started shouting, causing an uproar in an attempt to draw public sympathy and soft landing.
A short break was called by the judge to restore calm before the sentence was delivered.
Prior to today’s judgment, the trial had dragged on for almost three years due to delays, multiple adjournments and failure of witnesses to appear in court.
