Suspect arrested over rape, murder of 7-year-old Syrian

AMMAN — The Criminal Court prosecutor on Saturday started questioning a suspect in connection with the rape and murder of a seven-year-old Syrian child in an Amman neighbourhood over the weekend, official sources said.

The victim was found by a cleaning employee in a deserted building on Friday in Nuzha suburb, Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said.

“The child’s throat was slit, he was naked and there were signs that he might have been sexually assaulted,” Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

A second judicial source added that investigators reviewed the missing persons’ reports and discovered that a Syrian woman had reported her son missing on Thursday.

“We showed the victim’s family a photo of the dead boy and they confirmed that he was their son,” the judicial source told The Jordan Times.

Investigators combed the crime scene for evidence and reviewed their files for criminal offenders living in the area where the victim was found, according to a statement by the Public Security Department (PSD).

“Police located a suspect and questioned him. He confessed to luring the child to a deserted area, where he sexually assaulted him then killed him with a knife to conceal the murder,” the PSD statement added.

DNA and blood samples taken from the victim and analysed by criminal lab experts matched the suspect’s samples, according to the PSD statement.

Criminal Court Prosecutor Issam Haddidi, who is currently questioning the suspect, is expected to charge the suspect with sexual assault and murder, the judicial source said.