Former director of refinery company killed by son — police

AMMAN — The Criminal Court prosecutor on Thursday charged the son of Fayez Suheimat, former director of the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company, with premeditated murder in connection with the shooting death of his father a day earlier, official sources said.

Criminal Court Prosecutor Mohammad Bdeirat, who questioned the suspect Thursday evening, also ordered that “he be placed under mental evaluation until investigations are over”, a senior judicial source who is close to the investigations said.

The 37-year-old suspect reportedly shot Suheimat, 75, on Wednesday night as he was entering his villa in the capital’s Rabiah neighbourhood, the judicial source told The Jordan Times.

On Thursday, police announced in a statement the suspect’s arrest after questioning several family members and collecting evidence from the crime scene.

“Police summoned the suspect, and he confessed to buying a gun almost half an hour before the incident, deactivating the camera system in the house and then shooting his father when he entered the house’s courtyard,” the statement said.

The police statement and the judicial source stated that the suspect, who is the head of a unit at a local bank, “had a record of mental illness and was being treated by many doctors for schizophrenia”.

In his initial testimony to police and Bdeirat, the suspect claimed that “he was miserable and felt that he was unsuccessful, and he believed that his father was the cause of his misery and depression”, the senior judicial source said.

“The suspect, probably because of his mental illness, blamed his father and told investigators that he was thinking of getting rid of this misery,” the source said.

On Wednesday evening, the source maintained, the suspect “headed to a weapons place and bought a gun”.

“The suspect returned home, and the minute his father walked in, he fired three rounds at him, two of which struck him in the forehead and lips,” according to the source.

The suspect then disposed of the weapon in a dumpster near his home, took off with his car and abandoned it halfway to take a taxi. He then checked in at a hotel in Shmeisani.

Police found three empty shells at the crime scene and collected other evidence that implicated the suspect, according to the source.

“The suspect led investigators to the dumpster where he disposed of the weapon but no gun was found,” the source said, adding that police are still searching for the pistol.

The police statement added that crime lab experts picked up gun residue from the suspect’s hands and clothes.

The suspect will remain detained while he is being psychologically evaluated by a team of government psychiatrist “to learn more of his mental status”.

“The criminal prosecutor wants to determine the mental status of the suspect and if there are any other motives behind this murder,” the judicial source said.

Suheimat, who was also the former president of the Jordanian-Chinese Friendship Society, is survived by his wife, two sons, including the suspect, and one daughter.

Shop owners in the area where the victim resided expressed their disbelief and shock over the incident.

A local shop owner described the victim as a “good and respectable person”.

“I still cannot comprehend what happened. I dealt with him on a daily basis and he was a kind person with a lovely spirit,” the shop owner told The Jordan Times.

A butcher in the area told The Jordan Times that Suheimat, who was also director of the state-owned Jordan Industrial Estates Corporation from 1980 to 1995, was a true gentleman with a positive spirit “who always laughed and made us laugh”.