Man charged with premeditated murder, robbery in strangulation death case

AMMAN — The Criminal Court prosecutor on Sunday levelled premeditated murder and robbery charges against a 29-year-old man who allegedly murdered a Lebanese man in the Mafraq Governorate over the weekend, official sources said.

The victim died after the suspect reportedly strangled him while at his farm in Mafraq, some 80km northeast of Amman, on Thursday, a senior judicial source close to the investigation said

In his initial testimony to Criminal Court Prosecutor Sultan Shakhanbeh, the suspect claimed that “he invited the victim, who worked with him in Saudi Arabia at an engineering company, to his farm for dinner but an argument ensued,” according to the senior judicial source.

The suspect claimed that “he choked the victim with his hands following a heated argument then searched his bag and found $5,000 inside it,” the senior judicial source added.

The suspect informed investigators that he took the cash and “buried the victim in a shallow grave and left”, the senior judicial source added.

“The suspect headed to the airport to return to Saudi Arabia and called his father to inform him that he killed his friend,” according to the senior official source.

The suspect’s father advised his son “not to travel and instead to turn himself in, which he did”, the senior judicial source added.

In the meantime, the local police were notified through the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the victim’s family lost contact with their son when he arrived in the Kingdom, a second official source said.

“The police were also zeroing in on the suspect after tracing the victim’s last communications,” the second official source told The Jordan Times. 

An autopsy revealed that the victim died of strangulation, according to the second official source.

Shakhanbeh, who ordered that the suspect be detained for 15 days pending further investigations, will summon more witnesses to question them on the incident, according to the second official source.

“The prosecution office plans to expand the investigation to determine the cause behind the murder and if robbery was the only motive behind this murder,” the second official source added.