Maryam Sanda Sentenced to Death by Hanging for Killing her Husband

January 28, 2020

Maryam Sanda, who was accused of killing her husband, Bilyaminu Bello in 2017, has been sentenced to death by the Abuja Capital Territory High Court.

In 2017, Ms Sanda was arrested and charged with murder when her husband was stabbed to death following a domestic altercation with Ms Sanda. The Nigerian police have since charged Ms Sanda with culpable homicide and has been seeking the death penalty with a two-count charge.

The case, which has been in court for about 3 years, has been a heavy one as the witness account and the account of the accused seemed to be 2 sides of the same coin. Ms Sanda claims her husband fell on a broken Shisha bottle while trying to pin her down, while witnesses attest to the deteriorating state of their marriage and how she had threatened to castrate him several times. According to a witness who was present at the domestic altercation the night Mr Bello was killed, claims Ms Sanda tried to stab her husband multiple times with broken perfume bottles and bottles to no avail. After the fight had calmed down, he left, only to hear the news of his friends death hours later.

The presiding Judge, Justice Yusuf Halilu dismissed the testimony of Maryam Sanda, deciding it was not true and all evidence showed that Ms Sanda stabbed her husband with a kitchen knife with the intent to kill.