Appeal Court Upholds Maryam Sanda’s Death Sentence For Killing Husband

The Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja on Friday, has affirmed the death sentence on Maryam Sanda.

A Federal Capital Territory High Court had, in January 2020, sentenced Sanda to death by hanging for the murder of her husband, Bilyaminu Bello.

The Nigerian police charged Sanda for culpable homicide in November 2017 and sought the death penalty against Sanda in a two-count charge.

After the lower court found her guilty of killing Bello, she approached the appellate court to upturn the judgement.

In a notice of appeal predicated on 20 grounds, the appellant through her legal team described the judgment of the trial court as “a miscarriage of justice”.

She submitted that the judge relied on circumstantial evidence as there was “lack of confessional statement, absence of murder weapon, lack of corroboration of evidence by two or more witnesses and lack of autopsy report to determine the true cause of her husband’s death.”

But the appellate court dismissed her appeal for lack of merit.