Cassation Court overturns manslaughter conviction in toddler's murder case

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has overturned an April Criminal Court 20-year sentence against a father who murdered his toddle to revenge on his estranged wife in Amman in January of this year. 

The criminal court had declared the defendant guilty of choking his two-year-old daughter to death in Sahab on January 30. 

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

The Criminal Court decided to amend the premeditated murder charges originally levelled against the father to manslaughter because it was proven to the court that the defendant did not plot the murder. 

The Court of Cassation overturned the verdict asking the “Criminal Court to reinstate the premeditated murder charges against the defendant”. 

Court papers said the defendant married his wife in 2020. 

But in 2023, the couple started suffering from marital problems because "the defendant was on drugs and asked his wife to work as a street beggar".

"The defendant’s wife refused and returned to her family’s home," court papers said. 

One day before the murder, the court maintained, the defendant contacted his wife and asked her to return home but she refused. 

 “The victim was with her father for one week as part of the separation deal,” the court added. 

The following day, the court said, the “defendant strangled his daughter with hands and when he made sure she was dead he took a video clip with his mobile and told his wife that he killed his daughter to revenge on her because she refused to return home”.

The defendant did not contest his verdict at a higher court. 

However, the Criminal Court prosecutor contested the verdict stating that the defendant “plotted to murder his daughter and should receive a higher punishment”. 

The higher court ruled that the Criminal Court should consider the premeditated circumstances since the defendant “stated in his initial confessions that he was planning to take some sort of action to revenge from his wife who left him”. 

The higher court also ruled that “since the defendant sent a video clip to document his murder, then this is proof that he had plotted to murder his daughter as a form of revenge from his wife”. 

The Court of Cassation judges were Mahmoud Ebtoush, Nayef Samarat, Hammad Ghzawi, Qassem Dughmi and Mohammad Shreiri.