20-year prison term for murder convict upheld

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a November Criminal Court ruling, sentencing a coffee vendor to 20 years in prison after convicting him of murdering a man in August 2018 in the Jordan Valley.

The court declared the defendant guilty of shooting and killing the 22-year-old victim following a dispute over serving coffee on August 28, and handed him the maximum penalty.

Court documents said four days before the shooting incident, the defendant wen to get a cup of coffee and a pack of cigarettes from the victim’s kiosk.

"The defendant did not have enough money to pay the victim and an argument ensued and the defendant left," court papers said.

On the day of the incident, the court maintained, the defendant went back to the victim’s kiosk to buy a cup of coffee “but the victim informed him that he could not serve him because he was out of gas to heat it”.

The defendant left and went to buy coffee from a different vendor but noticed that someone else was buying coffee from the victim, so he became enraged, according to court documents.

"The defendant returned to the victim’s kiosk and inquired why he claimed he was out of gas and then served someone else," court papers said.

The two engaged in a heated argument and the victim pushed the defendant back so the latter drew a gun and fired two rounds at the victim killing him instantly, according to court papers.

The defendant, through his lawyer, contested the verdict arguing that he “shot and killed the defendant in self-defence and, therefore, should benefit from a reduction in penalty.

Meanwhile, the Criminal Court’s attorney general had asked the higher court to uphold the court’s sentence stating that the court abided by the proper legal procedures when sentencing the defendant.

The Cassation Court ruled that the Criminal Court’s judgement fell within the law, the proceedings were proper and the sentence given was satisfactory.

"The victim did not commit any dangerous or unlawful act that was life-threatening. Therefore, the defendant deserves the sentence he received," the higher court ruled.

The Cassation Court tribunal comprised judges Mohammad Ibrahim, Yassin Abdullat, Nayef Samarat, Naji Zu’bi and Bassem Mubeidin.