Man sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing stepmother

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a September Criminal Court ruling sentencing a man to 20 years in prison after convicting him of murdering his stepmother and dumping her body in a well in Irbid in April 2023.

The court declared the defendant guilty of stabbing his stepmother with a kitchen knife while she was preparing food on April 20.

The defendant was handed the maximum punishment for the manslaughter charge.

The court had amended the premeditated murder charges originally pressed against the defendant by the Criminal Court prosecutor after ruling that “the murder was not committed in a premeditated fashion”.

Court papers said the defendant’s father married the 43-year-old victim following the death of his wife in June of 2022.

“The defendant believed that the victim had convinced his father to become more aggressive with him and to keep his name out of inheriting a building owned by his father,” court papers said.

On the day of the incident, the court maintained, the defendant engaged in a heated argument with his father.

Shortly afterwards, the court added, the defendant entered the kitchen and following a brief argument with the victim he “grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed the victim several times in the chest”.