Presidential Pardon: Supreme Court affirms Maryam Sanda’s death sentence

The Supreme Court on Friday overrode the pardon granted by President Bola Tinubu to an Abuja-based house wife, Maryam Sanda and affirmed the death sentence handed out to her by lower courts.

Sanda was in 2020 sentenced to death by hanging for killing her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, during a domestic dispute.

Justice Moore Adumein in the lead judgment held that the prosecution proved the case beyond reasonable doubt as required, adding that the Court of Appeal was right to have affirmed the judgment of the trial court.

Adumein held that it was wrong for the Executive to seek to exercise its power of pardon over a case of culpable homicide, in respect of which an appeal was pending.

The Apex Court resolved all the issues raised in the appeal she filed against her and dismissed the appeal for being without merit.

The Supreme Court, in a split decision of four-to-one, affirmed the death sentence handed Sanda by the Court of Appeal.

The appeal court had upheld the decision of a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), sentencing her to death by hanging.

President Tinubu had recently reduced Sanda’s sentence to 12 years imprisonment on compassionate grounds.