Man pleads not guilty to decapitating his mother

AMMAN — A 28-year-old man has pleaded not guilty during a court hearing to allegedly murdering and decapitating his mother in the capital’s Tabarbour area last November, his lawyer and judicial sources said on Wednesday. 

The suspect pleaded guilty, however, to possessing a sharp weapon (axe) during his second court hearing on Tuesday, his court-appointed lawyer Fadeel Abbadi told The Jordan Times.

“The suspect, seated in a cage in the courtroom, appeared calm and quiet during the five-minute court hearing,” a senior judicial source told The Jordan Times.

The prosecution alleges that on November 3, the suspect, who allegedly considered his mother “his enemy and that she ruined his life, cut off her head when she returned home from a visit”.

“The suspect bought an axe a few days before the incident and took it to a butcher to sharpen it, telling the owner that his mother wanted the axe to cut meat,” the charge sheet said.

After murdering his mother, the prosecution maintained, “he took out her eyeballs and fled”, the charge sheet added. 

The defendant, who has a criminal record, was reportedly wanted in connection with a number of drug-related cases and was believed to have been using synthetic cannabis (locally known as “joker”).

At the end of the short court hearing, Criminal Court Prosecutor Sultan Shakhanbeh asked the court to summon the prosecution witnesses “as soon as possible”, the judicial source added.

The court agreed, and set March 5 as the new date to start hearing the prosecution witnesses in the case, the judicial source and Abbadi said.

If convicted of premeditated murder, the suspect could face the death penalty.