The Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld the FCT High Court ruling that passed death sentence on Maryam Sanda over the killing of her husband Bilyanu Mohammed Bello.
In a unanimous judgment, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Stephen Adah said it found no reason to set aside the verdict of the FCT High Court, which sentenced Maryam to death by hanging.
The police had arraigned Maryam Sanda and three others including her mother and brother on a two-count charge bordering on culpable homicide.
Maryam was on January 27 found guilty by Justice Yusuf Halilu of the FCT High Court of stabbing her husband, Bilyamin Bello in their Abuja residence in 2017.
However, Maryam, through her counsel, Joe Gadzama, in February, urged the appellate court to set aside her conviction and acquit her.
Gadzama had argued that the conviction of his client was based on circumstantial evidence, adding that there was no evidence of witnesses, lack of confessional statement, absence of murder weapon, and lack of autopsy report to determine the true cause of her husband’s death.
But the appellate court said it was not in doubt that the appellant killed her husband. It also held that the 20 grounds of appeal Maryam filed to challenge her conviction by the lower court lacked merit.
Dateline Nigeria reports that Maryam, a mother of two, can still take her case to the Supreme Court.
