Court upholds death sentence in immolation of pregnant 17-year-old

AMMAN — The Cassation Court has upheld a Criminal Court ruling in 2013 sentencing a service cab driver to death for the rape and murder of a minor in Ruseifeh.

The court found the defendant guilty of murdering a 17-year-old girl on April 13, 2013 and handed him the death penalty.

Court papers said the defendant and the victim, who lived in the same neighbourhood and knew each other, engaged in an affair.

The victim became pregnant and asked the defendant for JD500 to have an abortion, but he ignored her according to the court documents.

On April 13, the victim called the defendant, who picked her up with his vehicle, the court said.

"The defendant refused to pay her any money so she threatened to tell her family and his wife about the affair and the pregnancy," the court added.

The defendant banged the victim's head against the car door and she fainted, court transcripts said.

"The defendant took the victim to a deserted area, cut her throat with a knife, slit open her abdomen with a knife, then poured kerosene on her and set her ablaze," court papers said.

The defendant kept pouring more kerosene "to make sure" that she would be completely burnt along with the foetus "and his sexual assault would not be discovered", according to the court.

When the body was discovered and investigations were launched, police determined that the defendant was the biological father based on DNA tests, the court added.

The defendant's lawyer contested the verdict claiming that "his client's killed the victim to escape punishment for the sexual assault and he did not plot to murder her", the verdict said.

However, the Cassation Court ruled that the Criminal Court followed the proper procedures and the punishment was appropriate.

In a second appeal provided by the attorney, he claimed that his client was subjected to "torture and duress and that the Criminal Court failed to hear witnesses that could testify to the torture”.

The Cassation Court tribunal comprised judges Mahmoud Ababneh, Basel Abu Anzeh, Yassin Abdullat, Mohammad Tarawneh and Bassem Mubeidin.