Haliru Mohammed’s Son’s Murder: Suspected Killer Wife Says She Has No Case To Answer

Maryam Sanda, a woman charged with the alleged killing of her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, on Wednesday told an FCT High Court that she had no case to answer.
The accused is being tried before the court for allegedly killing Bello, a nephew of former PDP chairman, Alhaji Bello Halliru Muhammad.
She was docked alongside her brother, Aliyu Sanda; her mother, Maimuna Aliyu; and her housemaid, Sadiya Aminu, who were charged for assisting her to conceal the evidence by cleaning the blood of the deceased from the scene of the crime. They all pleaded not guilty.
Police had subsequently called six witnesses to corroborate the charge.
At the resumed hearing yesterday, her counsel, Olusegun Jolaawo in his no-case submission told the court that the prosecution had not made a prima facie case against his client to warrant her to defend herself.
He said the evidence brought by the prosecution before the court were done away with by cross-examination.
He then urged the court to uphold the no case submission and discharge his client of the murder charge.
Also, counsel for the three other defendants, Hussein Musa, in his submission urged the court to discharge and acquit the defendants because the prosecution did not adduce enough evidence to warrant them to enter defence.
However, the prosecution counsel, Fidelis Ogbobe, while urging the court to dismiss the no-case submission, submitted that the prosecution had made out enough evidence to warrant the defendants to enter defence in the case.
He said there is enough evidence that linked the defendants to the crime, and as such, they have to make their defence to the charge.
The trial judge, Justice Yusuf Halilu thereafter fixed April 4 for ruling on the no-case submission.
No-case submission literally means an application by the defendant submitting that the prosecution had not led enough evidence to warrant for conviction or for the defendant(s) to defend herself.
If the application succeeds, the defendant(s) will be discharged and acquitted. However, if it fails, the defendant(s) will be ordered to open her defence.