10-year jail term for Syrian refugee who beat 20-year-old wife to death

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a February Criminal Court ruling sentencing a 28-year-old Syrian refugee to ten years in prison after convicting him of beating his wife to death and attempting to conceal the murder in Mafraq in February 2017.

The court ruled that the defendant, who works as a shepherd, was guilty of beating his 20-year-old wife to death on February 3 and handed him a ten-year prison term.

The defendant then attempted to conceal the death by hiding his wife’s body in a cave and pretending that he was looking for her, the court documents said.

The minimum punishment for causing death by beating is seven years, but the tribunal decided to increase the sentence by three years because of the heinousness of the murder and because the defendant concealed the incident from the authorities, the Criminal Court ruled.

Court documents said the defendant and his wife, both Syrian refugees, had “constant marital problems since the day they were married and that he used to beat her”.

On February 3, an argument started between the two and “the defendant beat his wife with a wooden stick,” the court maintained, adding that “he left the house and, the following day, discovered that his wife was dead."

The defendant carried his wife’s body to a cave, dumped it in a seven-metre hole and covered it with rocks. He then went to a police station to report his missing wife, according to court papers.

But the victim’s family had suspicions that “the suspect might have had something to do with her disappearance, so they kept pressing him until he confessed 20 days later”, the court maintained.

Registered as refugees, the couple, who has two boys aged three and two years old, lived outside refugee camps.

The Higher Court ruled that the Criminal Court’s ruling was accurate and the defendant deserved the punishment he received.

 The Court of Cassation judges were Mohammad Ibrahim, Naji Zubi, Yassin Abdullat, Bassem Mubeidin and Saeed Bughied.