Huge price – The Nation
Maryam Sanda to die for killing husband
It appears to have been a case of momentary anger gone out of control and resulting in a tragic and irreversible act with fatally tragic consequences for all concerned.
We refer to the pathetic case of a housewife, Maryam Sanda, who stabbed her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, to death in their Abuja home on November 19, 2017, and was sentenced to death by hanging by the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, on Monday.
In the grim words of Justice Yusuf Halilu, who delivered the judgment, “From the entire circumstances of this case, justice to the society, to the state and to the defendant, Maryam Sanda, who should reap what she has sown. It is blood for blood.
It has been said, thou shall not kill, and whoever kills in cold blood deserves death as his or her own reward or punishment…He who kills also deserves to die. Accordingly, I hereby sentence you, Maryam Sanda to death by hanging”.
Eyewitnesses had told the court during trial that there was indeed a scuffle between Maryam and Bilyaminu, with the wife prevented three or four times from carrying out her threat to cut off her husband’s private part with a knife.
Nevertheless, as found by the court, Maryam “fatally injured the deceased by stabbing him in the heart region, thigh, back, using the same knife which she had threatened to use on the deceased with the premeditated intention of killing him”.
The judge rejected the claim by the defence that the death of the deceased occurred when he fell on the broken pieces of a ‘sisha bottle’ during the scuffle, noting that the victim had died before the bottle in question was broken.
This case is an all too familiar story of love gone awry and issuing in irrational jealousy that has marred an entire family for life. The fight between Maryam and Bilyaminu was allegedly triggered when the wife saw the nude picture of a girl on her husband’s phone.
While Maryam was understandably possessive of her husband as she had a right to be, could her murdering him in cold blood be a function of genuine love or deep seated selfishness? It is a complex question but we are inclined to believe the latter is the case.
For, under no circumstances should love be the cause of brutally eliminating the life of the object of one’s supposed affection.
This is even more so as Maryam was well aware that her late husband had been married before he met and started a relationship with her.
Even then, this tragic incident illustrates, once again, the need for couples to be sensitive to each other’s feelings and refrain from acting at all times in ways capable of hurting or provoking their partners to act irrationally.
Again, professional counselling for those intending to be joined in holy matrimony must be taken seriously. Not only must couples be fully aware of the psychological disposition of their intending spouses, they must also be adequately prepared as regards how to adjust and react to each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
Possible mental health issues that can cause problems later in marriage must be identified and professionally addressed before spouses are joined as husband and wife.
No less important is the need for tutorship on anger management as a critical part of marriage counselling. Too many incidents that cause tragedies in families could have been avoided if the parties involved have imbibed necessary skills in anger management.
It is noteworthy that it has taken a little over two years from the institution of the case on November 24, 2017, to delivery of judgment on January 27, 2020.
Given the cumbersome nature of the judicial process in Nigeria, this speedy dispensation of justice is commendable and worthy of emulation in other cases.
The case should also be a lesson to couples and lovers out there who may be treading the same path as the Bellos to know that there are consequences for their actions.
Marriage is ordained by God and should be enjoyed, not endured. Painful as it may be, when a relationship is going irretrievably bad, there are legal options for the parties involved to take, without recourse to the costly extreme.
