The Supreme Court has upheld the death penalty sentence imposed on Maryam Sanda, daughter-in-law of a former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), over the murder of her husband, Bilyamin Bello.
On January 27, 2020, an Abuja High Court found Maryam Sanda guilty of killing Bello with a knife at their Maitama residence in 2017.
She was later given a hanging death sentence.
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Before President Bola Tinubu granted her pardon and reduced her sentence to 12 years in jail, Maryam Sanda had been incarcerated at the Suleja Correctional Centre for almost six years and eight months.
Later, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), the Attorney-General of the Federation, defended her inclusion in the presidential pardon, stating that it was given “on compassionate grounds and in the best interest of the children” and citing her record of “good conduct, new lifestyle, model behaviour and remorsefulness” as part of the rationale.
However, on Friday, a five-member panel of the Supreme Court upheld the initial death penalty in a divided ruling of four to one.
The court dismissed her appeal in its entirety, ruling that she failed to show any error in the concurrent findings of the lower courts.
Justice Moore Adumein, who delivered the lead judgement, concluded that the Court of Appeal was correct to uphold the conviction since the prosecution had proven the accusation beyond a reasonable doubt.
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Tinubu’s intervention was also criticised by the Supreme Court, which declared that the Executive should not have granted clemency in a homicide case while an appeal was still underway.
The verdict upholds the death penalty that the trial court had previously imposed.
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