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An FCT High Court in Maitama has fixed January 27 to deliver judgment in the trial of Maryam Sanda, who was charged with the killing of her husband, Bilyaminu Bello.
Maryam is being tried before the court for allegedly killing her husband Bello, who was a nephew to former PDP Chairman, Alhaji Bello Halliru Muhammad, in 2017.
She was docked alongside her brother, Aliyu Sanda; her mother, Maimuna Aliyu and her housemaid, Sadiya Aminu, who were charged with assisting her to conceal the evidence by cleaning the blood of the deceased from the scene of the crime.
However, the court upheld the no-case submission filed by the three other defendants and discharged and acquitted them of the offence levelled against them by the police.
But for Maryam’s case, the court ordered her to enter her defence. In her defence, she told the court amidst tears that even though she and her late husband had their differences in the course of their two-year marriage, she did not him.
She stated that during one of their scuffles, the deceased fell down and she saw him holding his chest and saw a broken bottle in his chest which she removed and covered the chest with her scarf. She said the earlier mistakenly broke his Shisha bottle and the water inside spilled on the floor.
The prosecution had earlier called six witnesses to corroborate the charge.
The first prosecution witness, Ibrahim Mohammed, a businessman and friend of the deceased had told the court that Maryam attempted to stab the deceased multiple times on the night of November 18, 2017 and threatened on numerous occasions to cut off the manhood of the deceased unless she was divorced that night. He said he was with the deceased from around 3pm on November 18 to around 1am on November 19.
However, while adopting their final written addresses on Monday, Fidelis Ogbobe, the police counsel submitted that the prosecution has proven the allegations levelled against the defendant beyond reasonable doubt. He said they have established that Maryam caused the death of her husband by stabbing him.
He urged the court to convict the defendant and sentence her for it.
Maryam’s lawyer, Regina Okotie-Eboh, however, argued that the prosecution failed to tender evidence to corroborate the allegations. She said the prosecution did not call nurses or doctors from the hospital where the deceased was taken to as witnesses.
She added that they failed to tender the knife with which the defendant allegedly used to perpetrate the act and no autopsy was carried out to ascertain the actual cause of death.
“The court only decides on a matter based on the evidence before it and not suspicions,” Okotie-Eboh stated. She therefore urged the court to discharge and acquit her client. (Daily Trust)
Maryam is being tried before the court for allegedly killing her husband Bello, who was a nephew to former PDP Chairman, Alhaji Bello Halliru Muhammad, in 2017.
She was docked alongside her brother, Aliyu Sanda; her mother, Maimuna Aliyu and her housemaid, Sadiya Aminu, who were charged with assisting her to conceal the evidence by cleaning the blood of the deceased from the scene of the crime.
However, the court upheld the no-case submission filed by the three other defendants and discharged and acquitted them of the offence levelled against them by the police.
But for Maryam’s case, the court ordered her to enter her defence. In her defence, she told the court amidst tears that even though she and her late husband had their differences in the course of their two-year marriage, she did not him.
She stated that during one of their scuffles, the deceased fell down and she saw him holding his chest and saw a broken bottle in his chest which she removed and covered the chest with her scarf. She said the earlier mistakenly broke his Shisha bottle and the water inside spilled on the floor.
The prosecution had earlier called six witnesses to corroborate the charge.
The first prosecution witness, Ibrahim Mohammed, a businessman and friend of the deceased had told the court that Maryam attempted to stab the deceased multiple times on the night of November 18, 2017 and threatened on numerous occasions to cut off the manhood of the deceased unless she was divorced that night. He said he was with the deceased from around 3pm on November 18 to around 1am on November 19.
However, while adopting their final written addresses on Monday, Fidelis Ogbobe, the police counsel submitted that the prosecution has proven the allegations levelled against the defendant beyond reasonable doubt. He said they have established that Maryam caused the death of her husband by stabbing him.
He urged the court to convict the defendant and sentence her for it.
Maryam’s lawyer, Regina Okotie-Eboh, however, argued that the prosecution failed to tender evidence to corroborate the allegations. She said the prosecution did not call nurses or doctors from the hospital where the deceased was taken to as witnesses.
She added that they failed to tender the knife with which the defendant allegedly used to perpetrate the act and no autopsy was carried out to ascertain the actual cause of death.
“The court only decides on a matter based on the evidence before it and not suspicions,” Okotie-Eboh stated. She therefore urged the court to discharge and acquit her client. (Daily Trust)
