Maryam Sanda appeals her death sentence after killing her husband

Forum 4 years ago

Maryam Sanda appeals her death sentence after killing her husband

Maryam Sanda, the woman who was sentenced to death for killing her husband, Bilyaminu Bello

has filed an appeal against her death sentence.

Maryam Sanda filed an appeal against the death sentence handed by a Federal High Court in Abuja,

in which she asked the Court of Appeal in Abuja to set aside the verdict and acquit her as the death

sentence was “tainted by bias and prejudices.”

In her appeal, she alleged that she wasn’t given a fair hearing and was convicted on circumstantial

evidence by the trial judge who according to her failed to rule on her preliminary objection, challenging

the charge preferred against her.

She stated:

“The honourable trial judge erred in law when having taken arguments on the appellant’s preliminary

objection to the validity of the charge on the 19th of March, 2018 failed to rule on it at the conclusion of

the trial or at any other time.

“The trial judge exhibited bias against the defendant in not ruling one way or the other on the said motion

challenging his jurisdiction to entertain the charge and therefore fundamentally breached the right to a fair

hearing of the defendant.”

Maryam added that the trial judge erred and misdirected himself by usurping the role of the police when he

assumed the duty of an Investigating Police Officer (IPO) as contained in Page 76 of his judgment.

“The circumstantial evidence which the trial court relied upon in its application of the last seen doctrine does

not lead to the conclusion that the defendant is responsible for the death of the deceased.”