JUDICIARY
Maryam Sanda, Alleged Husband Killer Knows Fate Today
Maryam Sanda, the woman who allegedly stabbed her husband to death in Abuja, will know her fate on Monday when Justice Yusuf Halilu of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court delivers judgment in her protracted trial.
The Nigerian police charged her with culpable homicide in November 2017 and are seeking the death penalty in the two-count charge.
The victim, Bilyaminu Bello, was the son of a former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Haliru Bello.
The killing was premeditated, the police said. Court filings showed Ms Sanda stabbed her husband with a broken bottle at about 3:50 a.m. on the fateful day. The police said she did so with “absolute intent to kill” him.
But the accused pleaded not guilty to the crime. After several attempts, Ms Sanda secured bail with the conditions including an undertaking from her father to produce her in court till the end of the trial.
Charges against Maimuna Aliyu, Ms Sanda’s mother; Aliyu Sanda, her brother, and Sadiya Aminu, her housemaid – for allegedly tampering with evidence by cleaning the blood and other proofs from the crime scene – were later dropped.
The trial has dragged on for almost three years due to delays, multiple adjournments and failure of witnesses to appear in court.
The storm in the marriage between Maryam and late Bilyaminu reached boiling point on the night of November 18, 2017. Multiple court testimonies, including that of the accused, indicated that the tragedy was triggered by a heated argument between the couples that ill-fated night.
Ms Sanda allegedly issued many threats to her husband, including to chop off his male organ if he declined to grant her divorce, Ibrahim Mohammed, one of the six witnesses called by the prosecution said.
He told the court he was with the deceased for over eight hours that night.
Mr Mohammed, a friend of Bilayamin, said their argument had degenerated into a fight.
Mr Mohammed said he tried disengaging Ms Sanda’s hand from her husband’s neck before she rushed to break a bottle of groundnut on the wall and tried stabbing her husband with it.
“I held her hands and Bilyamin went behind her and collected the broken bottle from her.
“She said she would not stop until Bilyamin divorced her that night; that either he divorced her or she would cut his private part,” the witness said.
Mr Mohammed said Ms Sanda made bold her threat as she launched more violent attacks on the deceased before his eyes.
The witness narrated that the first defendant made another attempt to stab her husband after breaking a bottle of perfume, but her husband collected the bottle.
In her testimony before the court, Ms Sanda admitted that the two-year marriage that produced a baby girl was fraught with quarrels.
She, however, denied killing her husband or nursing such intentions. The mother-of-one said trouble started after she discovered nude pictures of another woman in her late husband’s phone and confronted him.
Ms Sanda said she had asked for a divorce before arguments which continued late into the night snowballed into a fight.
JUDICIARY
Court Remands Landlord for Alleged Defilement of Tenant’s Daughter
A family court sitting at Iyaganku, Ibadan, on Tuesday ordered the remand of one Musibau Lamidi, 50, for alleged defilement of his tenant’s six-year-old daughter.
The Magistrate, Mrs S. A . Adesina, ordered that the landlord should be kept at the Agodi custodial facility pending advice from Oyo State Director of Public Prosecutions.
Adesina did not take the landlord’s plea.
She adjourned the case until April 25 for mention.
Reports says that Musibau, a resident of Olode, Ibadan, was charged on one-count of defilement.
Earlier, the prosecutor, Insp Gbemisola Adedeji, told the court that the defendant, on March 13, between 8. 00 a.
m. and 4.00 p.m. defiled his tenant’s daughter.Adedeji said that Musibau had an issue with the child’s mother and asked her to pack out.
The prosecutor said that when the woman went to look for a house to rent, the defendant defiled her daughter.
She said that the offence contravened Section 34 of the Oyo State Child Right’s
Law of 2006. (NAN)
JUDICIARY
4 Friends Docked for Allegedly Threatening Cleric’s Life
Four friends were on Monday docked in a Grade ‘A’ Customary Court in Ibadan for allegedly threatening the life of pastor Charles Gold.
The police charged Olatunji Musibau, 44;Abiodun Folarin, 50; Kazeem Oluremi, 60 and Yusuf Sodiq, 23, with conspiracy and conduct likely to cause breach of peace.
The Prosecution Counsel, Mr Philip Amusan, told the court that the defendants allegedly committed the offence on March 8, at about 2 p.
m., at New Bodija Area in Ibadan.Amusan alleged that the defendants and others at large, threatened violence against pastor Gold, of Echo Evangelical Ministry Ibadan.
He said the offence contravened the probisions of sections 516 and 383 of the Criminal Laws of Oyo State, 2000.
The defendants however pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The Court President, Mrs Moji Aworemi, admitted the defendants to bail in the sum of N150, 000 each and one surety each in like sum.
Aworemi held that the surety must be a blood relation to the defendants.
She adjourned the case until April 29, for mention. (NAN)
JUDICIARY
2 Teenagers in Court for Allegedly Stealing Sewing Machine
Two teenagers, Simor Aaron, 19, and Francis David, 18, were arraigned on Wednesday before a Kaduna Chief Magistrates’ Court for allegedly stealing a sewing machine and other items worth N325,000.
The defendants, both residents of High-Cost Narayi, Kaduna, are standing trial on a two-count charge of conspiracy and stealing, to which they pleaded not guilty.
The Prosecutor, Insp Chidi Leo, told the court that the defendants committed the offences on March 11, at Barnawa Kaduna.
According to Leo, the duo burgled a tailoring shop of one Gladys Peter and stole her sewing machine, six wrappers, and four clothing materials all valued at N325,000.
The prosecutor stated that the defendants were caught and handed over to the police by members of the vigilante group on patrol in the area.
Leo said that the offences contravened Sections 281 and 217 of the Penal Code of Kaduna State, 2017, which stipulates a three-year jail term for stealing and two years imprisonment for conspiracy.
The Magistrate, Ibrahim Emmanuel, granted the defendants bail in the sum of N100,000 each with two sureties each in like sum, who must be gainfully employed.
Emmanuel adjourned the case until April 22, for hearing. (NAN)