Police question man in connection with burning death of his sister

AMMAN — The Criminal Court prosecutor on Wednesday began questioning a man in connection with the burning death of his sister in Zarqa, official sources said.

The victim was rushed to a hospital in Zarqa last week suffering from burns to over 70 per cent of her body, a senior judicial source said.

“The victim told Zarqa prosecutor that she accidentally set herself on fire while at her home while being treated at a hospital in Zarqa,” the senior judicial source told The Jordan Times.

The woman was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Al Bashir Hospital, the senior judicial source added.

“The Amman Criminal Court prosecutor questioned the victim again on Tuesday and she repeated her story that she accidentally torched herself,” the judicial source added.

But on Wednesday morning, the victim succumbed to her wounds and died in hospital of complications, the source added.

Shortly after her death, the source maintained, police received a tip-off that “one of her siblings might have set her on fire and he was immediately summoned for questioning,” according to a second source.

The suspect confessed in his initial testimony to the Criminal Court prosecutor that he “set his sister on fire following a domestic dispute”, the second official source told The Jordan Times.

“We are currently questioning the victim’s family to learn more about the incident and the motives,” according to the second source.

The second source added that the fact that the victim “did not reveal what really happened from the beginning will make it more challenging for investigators to learn details about this incident”.

"We will exert all the needed efforts to investigate the reasons behind the incident and the reasons that kept the woman from telling the truth to investigators when she was first admitted to hospital," the second source said.

The suspect was ordered detained at a correctional and rehabilitation facility for 15 days by the Criminal Court prosecutor pending further investigation, the second source said.