Man who allegedly burnt his daughter to death to face trial

AMMAN — The Criminal Court prosecutor on Thursday referred the case of a 46-year-old security guard, who reportedly set his teenage daughter ablaze and killed her in December 2015, to court for trial.

“Criminal Court Prosecutor Issam Haddidi prepared the indictment sheet and sent the case to the court so that the trial will start soon,” a senior judicial source told the Jordan Times.

The 13-year-old victim received burns to over 70 per cent of her body on December 12, 2015 after her father reportedly set her ablaze at their home in Jabal Qusour, according to the charge sheet.

She was taken to hospital and was treated for over a week but succumbed to her wounds and died a week later.

The suspect reportedly ran away from his house at the time of the incident and was arrested the following day.

In his initial testimony before investigators, the suspect claimed that he had no intention of murdering his daughter but was disciplining her because she left the house without his permission and fell on a kerosene heater, so her body caught fire.

The suspect also claimed that he wrapped her in a blanket in an attempt to extinguish the fire and that “his brothers who lived in the same building rushed to help him”.

However, the victim told police in hospital before her condition deteriorated that “her father set her ablaze”.

The charge sheet said the defendant was tough on the victim, “by restricting her movements, depriving her from seeking education and disciplining her with different harmful methods” according to the charge sheet.

On the day of the incident, the charge sheet maintained, the victim “left the house to go and see a friend without informing the defendant”.

When she returned home, the charge sheet added, “the defendant reportedly cursed her then locked the door and beat her up with a water hose and set her ablaze”.

The judicial source said the suspect was tried and acquitted by the Criminal Court in 2008 on charges of burning and killing another daughter.

“It is obvious that the defendant has a pattern, and Haddidi has attached the previous acquittal ruling with the indictment sheet to support his argument that the previous victim died in the same manner despite the fact that he was acquitted and that the verdict was upheld by the Court of Cassation,” the judicial source added.

The defendant had divorced his wife almost a year earlier, and the only other resident in their house is his only son, who was not home at the time of the incident.