Maryam Sanda: I didn’t know what led to Billiyaminu’s death, witness tells court

Ibrahim Muhammed, a witness in the ongoing trial of Maryam Sanda, alleged to have killed her husband, Billiyaminu Bello, has told an FCT High Court, Jabi that he did not know what led to Bilyaminu’s death, saying that as at the time he left the house the deceased was still alive.
The witness however revealed that Maryam Sanda had asked for divorce before the death of her husband. Muhammed, the prosecution witness, made this known when he was led in evidence by the Prosecution Counsel, Mr James Idachaba, at the resumed hearing. Maryam, is standing trial before the court alongside her mother, Maimuna Aliyu, her brother Aliyu Sanda, and housemaid, Sadiya Aminu, who are being tried for the murder of Bilyaminu, the son of a former PDP Chairman, Dr. Haliru Bello, on November 19, 2017. Muhammed, told the court that he was with the deceased from the late evening of November 18, and that the incident started as noise in the couple’s sitting room on November 19. “We were together watching TV and taking Shisha in their sitting room up till 8 pm on the very day Bilyaminu died,” he said.
The witness said, while they were in the living room, Maryam called him (Billiyaminu) up to two times before he joined her upstairs. “He went upstairs and didn’t return on time. I started hearing noise, later on, Sadiya, came downstairs to tell me that Maryam will like to see me. “I climbed up and I saw both of them holding each others’ clothes. Maryam told me she needed a divorce and that I should help her to tell the husband,” Muhammed said. Muhammed said he tried his best to calm the couple but Maryam insisted that Bilyaminu would not go out of the house until he grants her divorce.
“When I realised Maryam doesn’t want to leave the husband, I used my hand to remove her hand from the husband’s cloth but the fi ght still continued,” he explained. The witness also told the court that there was a groundnut bottle in the room and that Maryam broke it and attempted to stab the husband but was prevented.
He added that during the fight, Bilyaminu’s phone was damaged, and that both agreed to fi x it the next day or buy another one. Bilyaminu, according to him, later entered his room, his wife followed him and insisted on divorce, adding that he called some of the relations, who came to calm the couple. Muhammed said it was one of the couple’s relations, Usman Aliyu, who advised him to leave the house because it was not right to be too involved in matter that concerned husband and wife.
“Later on, one Abba-Bello, a brother to Billiyaminu called me and told me that I should come to the Maitama Hospital that Bilyaminu is dead. “I went to the hospital to meet him lying down dead,” he said. He told the court that he did not know what led to Bilyaminu’s death, saying that as at the time he left the house, the deceased was still alive The presiding judge, Yusuf Halilu, has since adjourned the hearing till May 15 and May 16.