Court upholds jail sentence for man who beat son to death

AMMAN — The Cassation Court has upheld a recent Criminal Court ruling sentencing a man to seven years in prison after convicting him of beating his son to death in Balqa Governorate in August 2014.

The Criminal Court had declared the man guilty of beating his son to death with a wooden stick to discipline him on August 27, 2014.

The court said the defendant and the victim owned a car maintenance shop in Ein Basha.

“The defendant became suspicious that his son was stealing money from the shop and was taking money from customers without accomplishing the job,” the Criminal Court ruling said.

On the day of the incident, the court maintained, the defendant went to his son’s house and beat him up with “a wooden stick on different parts of his body, including his head, to discipline him”.

The defendant then prevented the victim from seeking medical attention so that the “abuse marks would disappear from his body”.

Instead, the court maintained, “the victim’s condition deteriorated and he died three days later of internal bleeding from bruises and injuries he sustained from the assault.”

The defence lawyer had contested the Criminal Court’s ruling, arguing that his client should benefit from a reduction in penalty as stipulated in Article 98 of the Penal Code because he “committed his crime in a moment of rage”.

“The defendant was defending himself because the victim attacked him with an iron bar,” the defence said.

However, the attorney general asked the higher court to uphold the verdict because the Criminal Court “followed the proper procedures when convicting the defendant”.

The Cassation Court said the Criminal Court’s ruling falls within the law and its proceedings were proper.

The Cassation Court tribunal comprised judges Mahmoud Ababneh, Basel Abu Anzeh, Yassin Abdullat, Mohammad Tarawneh and Bassem Mubeidin.