On Friday, the Supreme Court upheld Maryam Sanda’s death sentence for culpable homicide.
In a 4-1 split decision, a five-member panel of justices reaffirmed the earlier ruling ordering her execution by hanging, dismissing her appeal and all arguments challenging her conviction as lacking merit.
In the lead verdict that was delivered by Justice Moore Adumein, the apex court held that the prosecution established her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
It held that the Court of Appeal’s decision that upheld the sentence that was passed by the trial court was unassailable.
The Supreme Court held that it was wrong for President Tinubu, being the head of the executive arm of the government, to seek to exercise his powers to grant a pardon over a case of culpable homicide, in respect of which an appeal was pending.
An Abuja high court had, on January 27, 2020, sentenced her to death by hanging after she was found guilty of stabbing her husband, Bilyamin Bello, to death at their Abuja residence in 2017.
Though she had already spent about six years and eight months at the Suleja prison, President Bola Tinubu, in the exercise of his executive powers, reduced her total sentence to 12 years.
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), stated that her inclusion in the recent presidential pardon was granted on “compassionate grounds and in the best interest of the children.”
He noted that factors such as her good conduct, adoption of a new lifestyle, exemplary behavior in prison, and remorsefulness contributed to the decision to grant clemency.
