Nigerian Supreme Court has on Friday upheld the death sentence imposed on Maryam Sanda, daughter-in-law of a former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), over the killing of her husband, Bilyamin Bello.
Maryam was convicted on January 27, 2020, by an Abuja High Court, and was subsequently sentenced to death by hanging after finding her guilty of fatally stabbing Bello, her husband at their Maitama home in 2017.
She had spent about six years and eight months at the Suleja Correctional Centre before President Bola Tinubu granted her clemency, reducing the sentence to 12 years’ imprisonment.
However, in a split decision of four to one, a five-member panel of the apex court on Friday reinstated the original death sentence.
The court dismissed her appeal in its entirety, ruling that she failed to show any error in the concurrent findings of the lower courts.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Moore Adumein held that the prosecution proved the charge beyond reasonable doubt and that the Court of Appeal was right to affirm the conviction.
Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, had earlier on defended her inclusion in the presidential pardon, saying it was granted “on compassionate grounds and in the best interest of the children,” adding that her record of “good conduct, new lifestyle, model behaviour and remorsefulness” formed part of the justification.
The Supreme Court, however, faulted Tinubu’s intervention, ruling that it was inappropriate for the Executive to grant clemency in a homicide case while an appeal was still pending.
Going by this decision, the death sentence earlier handed down by the trial court, and the court of appeal stands even though there is still a warrant to be signed by someone, and the person may decide to review this position again.