Man handed 20-year jail term for robbery, attempted murder of couple in Zarqa

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a June Criminal Court ruling to sentence an Egyptian man to 20 years in prison after convicting him of attempting to rob and murder a man and his wife in Zarqa in August 2018.

The court declared the defendant guilty of stabbing the two victims, who are Bangladeshi and Indonesian nationals, on August 21 and handed him the maximum punishment.

Court papers said that the defendant lived next to the victims, who owned a small shop adjacent to their house in a Zarqa neighbourhood.

“The defendant wanted to return to Egypt but did not have enough money, so he decided to rob the couple to support his travels,” court papers said.

The defendant decided to “rob the shop when the female victim was working alone”, according to court documents.

On the day of the murder, the court maintained, the defendant headed to the victims’ shop and asked the female victim if she had change for JD50.  

“The defendant attacked the victim with the knife and she fell to the ground and started screaming,” the court documents said. 

The victim’s husband, who was sleeping in the house, heard the screams and went to check on her, court papers added.

“The defendant also stabbed the husband with the knife on different parts of his body, took JD650, and left,” according to court papers.

Both victims were rushed to a nearby hospital and survived the stabbing incident after medical intervention, the court papers said.

The defendant did not appeal the verdict while the Criminal Court’s attorney general asked the higher court to uphold the sentence.

The higher court ruled that the Criminal Court proceedings were accurate and that the defendant was given the appropriate punishment.

The Cassation Court bench comprised judges Mohammad Ibrahim, Yassin Abdullat, Bassem Mubeidin, Hammad Ghzawi and Naji Zu’bi.