The Supreme Court has quashed the presidential pardon granted to Maryam Sanda, who was in 2020 sentenced to death by hanging for killing her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, during a domestic dispute.
In the exercise of his constitutional powers under section 175 of the 1999 constitution, President Tinubu had reduced Sanda’s sentence to 12 years imprisonment on compassionate ground.
But in a judgment on Friday, the Supreme Court, in a split decision of four-to-one, affirmed the death sentence handed Sanda by the Court of Appeal, Abuja which upheld the decision of a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), sentencing her to death by hanging.
Justice 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.
Justice Moore Adumein held in the lead judgment, which he personally delivered, that the prosecution proved the case beyond reasonable doubt as required, adding that the Court of Appeal was right to have affirmed the judgement of the trial court.
