By Ayomide Otitoju
The Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of Maryam Sanda, the daughter-in-law of a former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chairman, for culpable homicide.
In a 4-1 split decision, a five-member panel of justices reaffirmed the lower courts’ ruling, ordering her execution by hanging. The apex court dismissed her appeal, ruling that her arguments lacked merit and that the prosecution had proved her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Justice Moore Adumein delivered the lead judgment, declaring the Court of Appeal’s prior decision in support of her sentence “unassailable.”
The Supreme Court also ruled that it was inappropriate for President Bola Tinubu, as head of the executive, to exercise pardon powers over a culpable homicide case while an appeal was pending.
Sanda was originally sentenced to death by an Abuja High Court on January 27, 2020, after being found guilty of stabbing her husband, Bilyamin Bello, to death at their Abuja residence in 2017. She spent nearly seven years at Suleja Prison before President Tinubu, in an exercise of executive clemency, reduced her sentence to 12 years on compassionate grounds.
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), explained that her inclusion in the presidential pardon was motivated by “compassionate grounds and in the best interest of the children.” Fagbemi cited her “good conduct, embrace of a new lifestyle, model behaviour in prison, and remorsefulness” as factors that influenced the decision.
