10-year prison sentence upheld for man who killed son

AMMAN — The Cassation Court has upheld an April Criminal Court ruling sentencing a 53-year-old man to 10 years in prison for killing his son in an Amman neighbourhood to conceal his alleged killing of his daughter in June 2014. 

The court declared the defendant guilty of stabbing his son to death on June 13 while at his home and handed him a 20-year prison term, which was immediately reduced by half because the victim’s family dropped charges against the defendant. 

The tribunal also decided to amend the premeditated murder charges originally pressed against the defendant to manslaughter, deciding that the prosecution failed to present evidence that the defendant plotted the murder.

Court papers said that the defendant reportedly “murdered his married daughter, for reasons related to family honour, with the help of the victim two days prior to the incident and claimed that she committed suicide by consuming poisonous substance and buried her”.

“The defendant and the victim tortured the [first] victim by electrocuting her, then they forced her to consume a poisonous substance and she died,” court documents said. 

The father called the police and informed them that his daughter committed suicide and she was buried, court papers added.

But, the following day, the court added, the victim became enraged that he “took part in killing his sister and blamed his father for it”.

“The two started arguing and the defendant grabbed a knife, stabbed the victim and killed him,” the court added.

The defendant then changed his clothes, sat and drank a coffee, then “got rid of the knife and his bloody clothes”, the court maintained.

He waited two days, then called the police claiming that someone “broke into their home and murdered his son”.

However, investigators became suspicious because the victim’s body was decomposing and, upon questioning, the defendant confessed to both murders, according to the six-page verdict.

The defendant is being tried separately for the alleged murder of his daughter and a final verdict has not yet been issued in this case. 

 “The Criminal Court’s proceedings were accurate and correct and the defendant received the appropriate punishment,” the higher court ruled in early July.

The Cassation Court comprised judges Basil Abu Anzeh, Naji Zubi, Bassim Mubeidin, Mohammad Ibrahim and Mohammad Tarawneh.