Justice Yusuf Halilu of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court on Monday sentenced Maryam Sanda to death by hanging for killing her husband, Bilyaminu Bello.
The judge gave the sentence while delivering judgment on Sanda’s protracted trial.
He sentenced Sanda after she was convicted for stabbing late Bilyaminu, son of former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Haliru Bello to death.
The police had charged Sanda for culpable homicide in November 2017, and sought the death penalty against the accused in a two count charge.
The judge said there was compelling evidence to convict the accused.
The judge dismissed 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 the evidence of the convict was unreliable and circumstantial evidence was used in the place of eye witness account.
“I am convinced that the defendant stabbed the deceased and therefore guilty of charges against her.
“She is hereby convicted of the murder of her husband as charged,” the judge said.
He further held that from the entire circumstances of the case, justice to the society and to the deceased outweighs other elements of justice to the defendant.
“She should reap what she has sown, blood for blood.
“For it has been said that thou shall not kill and whoever kills in cold blood deserves death as his or her own reward or punishment.
“The mindless and senseless killing of men and women in our society must be seriously frowned upon.
“Accordingly, I hereby sentence Maryam Sanda to death by hanging.
“Sanda should be remanded in Suleja Correctional Centre until the convict exhausts her right of appeal in the court of appeal,’’ Halilu said.
Sanda was docked alongside her brother, Aliyu Sanda; her mother, Maimuna Aliyu; and her housemaid, Sadiya Aminu, who were charged for assisting her to conceal the evidence by cleaning the blood of the deceased from the scene of the crime.
They all pleaded not guilty.
The judge discharged the co-defendants after they filed a no case-submission and ordered her to enter her defence.
It was gathered that as the judge pronounced Sanda guilty, she convict attempted to run out of the court room while her relatives started shouting, causing uproar in an attempt to draw public sympathy and soft landing.
