the death sentence passed on a
policeman, Usman Maigari, who strangled
his 12-year-old wife to death for rituals.
The apex court upheld the death
sentence on Maigari by the Sokoto State
High Court and the Court of Appeal,
Sokoto.
The apex court, after analysing the
parties' written arguments, said that
Maigari acted callously.
"To say the least, the appellant displayed
a complete disregard for human life, with
the archetypal characteristics of a beast
dressed in police uniform with which he
set about the abuse of that office and had
thought he had enough expertise to cover
up the dastardly acts with the impunity
that went along with persons of such
genre, best kept away from human
society, especially as he held nothing
sacred."
Maigari was arraigned before the Sokoto
High Court on July 13, 2000, charged with
culpable homicide punishable with death
under Section 221(b) of the Penal Code.
He was accused of causing the death of
his second wife, Sa'adatu Torankawa
(whose age was put between 11 and 13
years) on January 11, 1999 "by
strangulating her to death for ritual
reasons, then conveyed her corpse and
dumped it in a culvert near Janzomo
village, along Kajiji-Shagari Road.
He pleaded not guilty and underwent
trial.
In his defence, he denied killing his wife,
saying that she died while he was
conveying her to the hospital.
He said: "I can remember that sometime
in January 1999, my wife Sa'adatu fell sick
one night. Then I conveyed her on my
motorcycle from Yabo in order to take
her to the hospital in Sokoto.
"However, after we had passed Milgoma
village, she died. When I noticed that she
was dead, I put her body in a sack, then
conveyed the corpse on my motorcycle
and dumped it under a culvert along
Shagari-Kajiji Road, near one village called
Janzomo."
He also told the court that he hid the
news about Sa'adatu's "ailment" and
subsequent death from everyone,
including his second wife, Hauwa'u and
his deceased wife's relatives, because he
was scared his in-laws could kill him.
At the conclusion of trial, the trial judge,
Justice Abbas Bello, found him guilty and
sentenced him to death by hanging.
He challenged the decision at the Court
of Appeal, Sokoto and lost, forcing him to
appeal to the apex court.
The Supreme Court, in the judgment read
yesterday by Justice Mary Peter-Odili,
upheld the decisions of both lower courts.
The court wondered why the convict, a
policeman, chose to keep his wife's
ailment and subsequent death to himself
if he had no ulterior motive.
The apex court also queried his decision
to dump his wife's body at the car park of
the hospital and later, under a culvert,
where it was later discovered by passers-
by rather than take her to the doctor for
medical attention.
The court further wondered how Maigari,
not being a medical doctor, concluded
that his wife was dead; and why he chose
to dump her corpse under a culvert along
the road to rot away, rather than inform
her relatives for her to be properly
buried.
The apex court upheld the evidence in a
medical report tendered by the
prosecution to the effect that the
deceased died from strangulation.
"What is sure is that there is enough
circumstantial evidence, cogent,
compelling, unequivocal and irresistible,
leading to the conclusion that the
appellant and no other, caused the death
of his wife, a young person of between
12-13 years, by strangulating her to death
and dumping her corpse in a culvert.
"It is also to be said that the proof put
forward by the prosecution was beyond
reasonable doubt in tragic circumstances,
most especially, in the present situation,
where the perpetrator of this heinous,
animalistic crime is an officer of the
Nigerian Police Force, who donned the
uniform of state, not with pride and
dignity of a law enforcement personnel,
but wore the uniform which he was
unworthy to be seen in.
"The circumstances are such that I see no
redeeming feature available to the
appellant and therefore no basis to either
fault what the trial court and Court of
Appeal did. Rather, this court has no
choice but to affirm the concurrent
findings of the two courts below, which
were supported by the evidence on
record and nothing on which a deviation
can be hung," Justice Peter-Odili held.
She subsequently dismissed the appeal
for lacking in merit and affirmed the
conviction and sentencing of Maigari to
death by hanging.
Justices Mahmud Mohammed,
Muhammad Saifullah Muntaka-Coomassie,
Nwali Sylvester Ngwuta and Olukayode
Ariwoola, who equally participated in the
hearing of the appeal, agreed with the
lead judgment.
Source : the nation
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