Cassation Court upholds Amman 2020 beating sister to death ruling

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a February 2020 Criminal Court ruling, sentencing a man to seven years in prison for beating his sister to death in Amman in September 2018.

The Criminal Court declared the defendant guilty of killing the victim on September 20 following a heated argument while at her husband's home and handed him a seven-year prison sentence.

The Criminal Court also decided to amend the original murder charges that were levelled against the defendant by the criminal court prosecution office to beating to death, which carries a lesser charge.

According to court papers, the victim's husband had complained to the defendant and his family that she "would often leave the house without his permission and wanted to own a mobile phone".

"The defendant and other siblings sat together and agreed that she [the victim] should listen to her husband and forget the idea of owning a mobile phone and that she should inform her husband every time she wanted to leave the house, but she refused," court papers said.

On the day of the incident, the court maintained, "the victim walked her children to their school and did not immediately return home".

"The victim's mother-in-law called the defendant to inform him that his sister did not immediately return home after dropping the children to school," the court said.

The defendant headed to his sister's home and asked her to come to his house, but she refused, according to court documents.

"The defendant grabbed his sister's head and banged it repeatedly on the wall and stepped on her legs and she fainted," the court documents said.

The victim was placed on a couch by the defendant, who called his brothers to inform them that "he beat his sister to discipline her", court papers added.

The defendant had told the court that "he never intended to murder his sister" and that he "just beat her up to discipline her so that she would not leave her house without her husband's consent", the court said.

The defendant tried to wake his sister up but she was unresponsive so he called an ambulance, but "the victim was already dead", the court said.

The victim's husband dropped charges against the defendant, the court documents stated.

The defendant contested the verdict through his lawyer, arguing that he “should benefit from a further reduction in penalty because he committed the crime in a moment of rage”.

“My client also supports a family of six and does not have any previous criminal record,” the defence argued.

Meanwhile, the Criminal Court’s attorney general asked the higher court to uphold the seven-year sentence and the amended murder charges to beating to death.

The higher court ruled that the Criminal Court proceedings had been accurate and that the defendant was given the appropriate punishment.

"It was proven to the court that the defendant did not plot to kill his sister and that he was only trying to discipline her when he beat her up, which resulted in her death," according to court documents.

The Cassation Court bench comprised judges Mohammad Ibrahim, Naji Zubi, Bassem Mubeidin, Yassin Abdullat and Saeed Mugheid.