Courts hand out tougher sentences for robbery, aggravated assault, say lawyers

AMMAN — Lawyers on Monday said they have noticed that courts are inflicting stiff punishments against robbers and aggravated assaults.

Lawyer Fadeel Abbadi, who specialises in grand felonies, told The Jordan Times that the courts over the past year started inflicting the maximum punishments against theft and assault perpetrators.    

"The punishments used to range from three to five years, but we noticed that the courts are now applying higher punishments against the defendants," Abbadi told The Jordan Times.

In some instances, Abbadi added, the punishment reaches 15 years if the incident involved the use of sharp weapons and firearms.  

The Kingdom witnessed several robberies and physical harm against delivery drivers during 2022 and last year.

The most recent incident occurred last week when a delivery driver claimed that he was attacked by two customers in Amman who refused to pay the bill, according to police sources.

The victim stated that the two suspects attacked him with a sharp object after receiving the order in the Ras Al Ain area.  

Police on Sunday said they arrested two suspects in connection with the assault against the delivery driver.

The police officials stated that the two suspects were referred to the criminal court prosecutor for questioning an indictment.

Lawyer and activist Rasha Laswi told The Jordan Times that the courts recently stiffened the punishments against theft perpetrators.

"We have noticed that the court in recent months started to hand down stiffer punishments against theft perpetrators, especially if they were repeat offenders," Laswi said.

In November 2020, a delivery driver was viciously attacked by several suspects in the Marj Al Hammam area in Amman.

The victim was also assaulted with a sharp object that caused deep wounds to his fingers.

Police then announced that they wounded up several suspects in connection with the assault. 

According to Public Security Directorate (PSD) statistics in 2020, the number of aggravated assaults that occurred in the Kingdom was 658.

Meanwhile, the reported criminal and misdemeanour thefts for the same year totalled 10,953, according to the PSD statistics.