Man gets 20-year jail term for stabbing neighbour to death

AMMAN — The Criminal Court on Monday sentenced a 30-year-old man to 20 years in prison after convicting him of murdering his neighbour in Amman in June 2015.

The defendant was declared guilty of stabbing his 59-year-old neighbour to death and burning the body, then setting a mattress ablaze in an attempt to conceal the murder on June 17, and handed him the maximum punishment.

The court also decided to amend the premeditated murder charges to manslaughter because the tribunal concluded that “the defendant did not plot the murder”.

Court documents said that the defendant’s father and the victim met while spending time at a correctional and rehabilitation facility.

When the victim was released, the court maintained, “he went to visit the defendant’s father who decided to help him by offering him a room to rent near his house”.

Four days before the incident, the court maintained, “the defendant learnt that his 21-year-old sister visited the victim’s house and headed there to fetch her”.

“The defendant slapped his sister and the victim despite the lack of evidence that anything was going on between them and took her back to his family’s home,” court documents said.

On the day of the murder, the court continued, the defendant visited the victim to “discuss the issue of his sister and an argument ensued”.

“The defendant stabbed the victim repeatedly, then tied him up and attempted to set the house ablaze and left,” the court said. 

The victim’s neighbours called the Civil Defence Department after they saw smoke coming out of his home. When firefighters entered the house, they found the victim dead in one of the rooms’, according to court transcripts. 

Criminal Court Prosecutor Ahmad Kinani had asked the court to inflict the maximum punishment on the defendant.

The tribunal comprised judges Majid Rafaya, Anwar Abu Eid and Nawaf Samarat.

Monday’s verdict will automatically be reviewed by the Court of Cassation within the next 30 days.