Man sentenced to death for double murder

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation on Sunday upheld a Criminal Court ruling sentence a man to death after convicting him of murdering two people in Zarqa in 2012, a senior judicial source said.

The defendant was convicted of shooting to death a man and his son over a dispute regarding a marriage bid and attempting to murder a second son in Zarqa and was handed the maximum sentence.

The higher court also upheld the Criminal Court’s ruling ordering the defendant to pay JD108,000 in compensation for the victims’ family.

Following a review of the case by the Court of Cassation, the senior judicial source told The Jordan Times, the five-judge tribunal concluded that the Criminal Court proceedings were accurate and the defendant received the appropriate punishment.

Court documents said the defendant wanted to marry the victim’s daughter, who was a student at Al al-Bayt University, and “started supporting her education”.

“The defendant claimed that the family of the woman, whom he met via social media, agreed to his intentions but then changed their mind about him when he did visit them to ask for her hand in marriage because he was married and had children,” the court ruled.

The defendant was upset and asked the woman’s family to “return the money he had given her to complete her education but they refused so he decided to [take] revenge by publishing her photos on Facebook and also showed her photos to a man who wanted to marry the woman and he ruined her marriage prospects”.

“The victims filed a defamation lawsuit against him so he decided to avenge their actions by killing them,” according to court documents.

On the day of the incident, the court said, the defendant headed to the victim’s house and disconnected the electricity “in order to enter the house and shoot everyone”.

“One of the victims opened the door to check on the electricity and this is when the defendant entered the house and started shooting at everyone then fled the scene,” the court said.