On Friday, the Supreme Court upheld Maryam Sanda’s death sentence from lower courts and overturned President Bola Tinubu’s pardon of the housewife from Abuja.
In 2020, Sanda killed her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, following a domestic argument and was given a death by hanging sentence.
In the lead ruling, Justice Moore Adumein stated that the prosecution had proven the case beyond a reasonable doubt as necessary and that the Court of Appeal had been correct to uphold the trial court’s decision.
According to Adumein, it was improper for the Executive to try to use its pardoning authority in a case of culpable homicide where an appeal was still pending.
The Apex Court dismissed the appeal against her for lack of merit after resolving every point brought up in the appeal.
By a vote of four to one, the Supreme Court upheld the death penalty that the Court of Appeal had imposed on Sanda.
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court’s decision to sentence her to death by hanging was upheld by the appeals court.
On compassionate grounds, President Tinubu recently lowered Sanda’s sentence to 12 years in jail.
