For the second time, an Abuja High Court yesterday refused to admit Maryam Sanda to bail for allegedly stabbing her husband, Bilyamin Bello, to death, on November 19, 2017. The court had earlier on December 14, 2017 refused her first bail application, but granted her three co-defendants bail.
Sanda’s counsel, J. B. Daudu, SAN, however filed a fresh application seeking the court to admit the defendant to bail. In the fresh application, Sanda told the court that she was three months pregnant and that the condition of the prison would not be conducive for her.
Maryam is still carrying a baby less than a year old. Prosecution counsel, James Idachaba, had opposed the application. Delivering ruling in the fresh bail application, Justice Yusuf Halilu held that the application filed by Sanda constituted an abuse of court process because she failed to withdraw her notice of appeal challenging the December 14, 2017 ruling declining her bail. The court subsequently ordered that Maryam be returned to Suleja Prisons.
The court later fixed March 19 for hearing and commencement of trial. The Federal Government is prosecuting Maryam alongside her mother, Maimuna Aliyu; brother, Aliyu Sanda; and their house help, Sadiya Aminu, over a two-count fresh charge.
In the amended charge, Maryam was accused of committing culpable homicide punishable by death under Section 221 of the Penal Code Elisha Act.
