Daily Trust

How my husband died, Maryam Sanda tells court

- By Clement A. Oloyede

Maryam Sanda, who was charged with the murder of her husband Bilyaminu Bello, yesterday gave her own account of the incidence that led to the death of her husband.

She is being tried before the FCT High Court in Maitama for allegedly killing her husband, Bello, who was a nephew of 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 submission filed by the three other defendants and discharged and acquitted them of the offence levelled against them by the police.

At the resumed hearing of the case yesterday, Sanda, who was testifying in her own defence, told the court amidst tears that though they had their difference­s in the course of their two-year marriage, she did not kill her husband.

She told the court that on November 18, 2017, she used her late husband's phone to make a call, adding that when she discovered a nude picture of a lady on the phone, she went downstairs and called the deceased so that they could talk about it.

She stated that in the course of discussion which degenerate­d into an argument, she asked the deceased to divorce her, adding that the late Bilyaminu held her neck, which got her choking.

The argument continued late into the evening and that around 11pm, she went to take her charger in the living room.

"He pushed me and as I was falling down, I mistakenly broke his Shisha bottle and the water inside spilled on the floor.

"He pinned me to the ground and I heard our daughter crying. I told him to leave me so that I could attend to her and he loosened up a bit and I struggled to my feet,” she said.

She stated that while trying to hold her, the deceased fell down and that she saw her husband holding his chest and saw a broken bottle in his chest which she removed and covered the chest with her scarf.

She said she rushed out to call for help and met one Ayuba with whom she took her husband to Abuja Clinic, where the late Bilyaminu was confirmed dead, adding that he was later taken to Maitama General Hospital where he was also confirmed dead.

From the hospital, she said she was taken to Maitama police station where she wrote her statement.

She said the evidence of two of the prosecutio­n witnesses that she threatened to kill her husband was false.

"I did not try to kill my husband. We had an argument; that was all. I never wished my husband to die," Sanda told the court.

Under cross-examinatio­n by the prosecutin­g counsel, Sanda told the court that she did not break the shisha bottle in anger.

She stated that as of the time she drove her husband to the hospital, the broken bottle she removed from his chest and the spilled water from the shisha bottle was on the floor of their living room.

Following the evidence of Sanda, her counsel, Rita Okotie Eboh, informed the court that they were closing their case.

The trial judge, Justice Yusuf Halilu, subsequent­ly adjourned the case to November 25 for adoption of final written addresses.

 ??  ?? The deceased, Bilyamu Bello and his wife, Maryam Sanda
The deceased, Bilyamu Bello and his wife, Maryam Sanda

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