Man sentenced to 8 years in prison for murdering son

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a February Criminal Court ruling, sentencing a man to eight years in prison after convicting him of murdering his son in Ajloun in June 2020. 

The court declared the defendant guilty of shooting and killing his son in his family’s home on June 14, and handed him a 20-year prison term. 

However, the court immediately reduced the sentence to eight years in prison because the victim’s family dropped the charges against the defendant.  

Court papers said that the defendant and the victim lived in the same house, and would often have “heated disputes” about the victim’s alleged drug and alcohol abuse. 

In early June 2022, the victim’s mother fell ill and was admitted to hospital, the court papers said. 

“The defendant argued with his son about his failure to visit his sick mother at hospital on a regular basis,” the court maintained. 

On the day of the murder, the court maintained, “the argument became heated and the defendant pulled out a gun and shot his son in the chest”. 

The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital, but was declared dead on arrival, the court documents said. 

The defendant contested the Criminal Court’s ruling through an attorney, who charged that “the prosecution failed to provide any solid evidence, such as fingerprints, to link the defendant to the murder”.

Meanwhile, the Criminal Court’s prosecution office asked the higher court to uphold the sentence, arguing that the investigation procedures were accurate and that the defendant received the appropriate punishment. 

The higher court ruled that the Criminal Court had followed the proper sentencing procedure and upheld the verdict.

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