Sentence reduced for father convicted of murdering, dismembering teenage son

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a December Criminal Court ruling, sentencing a father to over seven years in prison after convicting him of murdering and dismembering his teenage son in Amman in July 2013.  

The court first declared the defendant guilty of stabbing his 17-year-old son once in the heart on July 7, 2013, and handed him the death penalty. 

However, the court decided to immediately reduce the sentence to 15 years in prison, and then seven-and-a-half-year in prison, because the defendant benefitted from a general amnesty and because the victim’s family dropped the charges against the defendant.  

Court papers said the defendant, who is married to two wives, suspected that his son had a relationship with his second wife. 

“The defendant asked one of his friends to befriend his son to find out if he was having a relationship with his second wife,” the court maintained. 

The friend notified the defendant that his son was talking to a woman whose name was similar to his second wife’s name, the court added. 

“The defendant became enraged and plotted to murder his son,” court documents said.

Three weeks later, the defendant purchased a long knife and hid it in his house, according to the court papers. 

“The defendant sent his family to visit their relatives in one of the Kingdom’s governorates and asked the victim to stay behind,” the court transcripts said.

When the victim went to lie down and rest, the court maintained, “the defendant grabbed the knife and stabbed him once in the heart,” after which he “slashed the victim’s neck, decapitating him.” 

The defendant headed to the local market, bought a saw, “then returned home, where he dismembered his son’s body and placed it in trash bags,” the court transcripts said. 

“The defendant dumped his son’s body in different locations near desert road, then returned home and informed his family members that his son had stolen JD1,800 from him and had gone to an unknown destination,” the court added. 

In 2021, police received leads that the teenager may have been a victim of foul play, and summoned the father for questioning, the court added. 

The defendant confessed to murdering his son, claiming that “the victim was engaged in an affair with his second wife,” the court transcripts stated. 

The defendant’s lawyer contested the Criminal Court’s ruling, arguing that “the father murdered his son in a moment of rage, and should therefore get a further reduction in penalty”. 

Meanwhile, the Criminal Court’s general attorney argued that the defendant should not benefit from two reductions in penalty. 

However, the higher court ruled that the Criminal Court followed the proper sentencing procedure.

In response to the lawyer’s argument, the higher court stated that “the moment of rage clause does not apply in the case since it was clear to the court that the defendant had plotted to murder his son”. 

The higher court explained that the defendant could benefit from a sentence reduction under the general amnesty principle and if the victim’s family dropped charges against him. 

The Court of Cassation judges were Ibrahim Abu Shamma, Fawzi Nahar, Mohammad Sharari and Majid Azab.