Appellate Court Confirms Death Sentence for Woman Who Killed Magistrate Spouse

The Court of Appeal has upheld the death penalty for Farida Abubakar following the murder of her ex-husband, Chief Magistrate Attahiru Muhammad-Ibrahim.

In a collective decision reached on Monday, a three-judge panel presided over by Justice Tunde Awotoye rejected Abubakar’s appeal (No. CA/S/75C/2025), affirming the original June 2024 verdict from the Kebbi State High Court.

The justices concluded that the initial conviction was legally sound and backed by reliable testimony.

During the proceedings, the Kebbi State Ministry of Justice presented 12 witnesses and various pieces of evidence, including Abubakar’s own statements and circumstantial findings.

While her statements were not classified as a direct confession, the court determined that the prosecution successfully proved its case.

A key factor was the “last seen” doctrine, which placed the defendant with the victim at the time of the crime. Consequently, the court sustained the sentence of death by hanging for murder and a seven-year prison term for inflicting grievous bodily harm.

The appellate court’s reliance on the “last seen” principle is a significant aspect of this ruling. Under Nigerian criminal law, when a deceased person was last seen alive in the company of the accused, the law presumes the accused is responsible for the death unless they can provide a credible alternative explanation.

Abubakar has now escalated the case to the Supreme Court in a final attempt to reverse the ruling.