The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja , has convicted and sentenced Maryam Sanda to death by hanging for the murder of her husband , Bilyaminu Bello.
Delivering judgment , Justice Yusuf Halilu, held that there was circumstantial evidence coupled with her testimony and statement to the police that she ” fatally” stabbed her husband to death in Abuja on November 19, 2017 .
The judge orders that she should be remanded in Suleja prison till she exhausts her right of appeal .
Her deceased husband has been variously reported as a son or nephew of a former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Haliru Bello.
Sanda , the mother of two , her mother and her other relatives broke down in tears immediately the judge pronounced her guilt .
Her mother who was occupying a back seat sped out of the court as she wept .
Sanda herself , while crying rushed out of the courtroom which was next to the dock but the judge ordered that she should be brought back to the courtroom .
In the middle of the confusion, the defence lawyer attempted to make a plea for allocutus ( plea for mercy ) but the judge said he needed to rise for the courtroom to be restored to normalcy .
The judge said he would return to deliver the sentence after some minutes.
When the judge returned from the break , he said the offence for which the convict was convicted being one based on Section 221 of the Penal Code , there would be no room for allocutus .
” It has been said that thous shall not kill . Whoever kills in cold blood shall die in cold blood, ” the judge said.
” Maryam Sanda should reap what she has sown , ” he said, adding , ” it is blood for blood”.
