Man gets 20-year prison term for murder

AMMAN — The Cassation Court has upheld a June Criminal Court ruling, sentencing a 27-year-old man to 20 years in prison after convicting him of murdering a man in the Jordan Valley in January 2016.

The Criminal Court handed the defendant the maximum sentence after convicting him of the stabbing death of his friend on January 10.

Court documents said the defendant and the victim lived in the same neighbourhood for over 15 years.

“The defendant claimed that the victim would often abuse him physically ever since the two knew each other,” court papers said.

On the day of the incident, the court maintained, the defendant was walking on the street and saw the victim walking nearby.

“The defendant decided to kill the victim and drew a switchblade he was carrying and ran towards him and stabbed him to death, while the victim shouted: ‘For God’s sake we are friends. Why are you doing this?’” court papers said.

The victim was rushed by bystanders to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to his wounds, court transcripts said.

Meanwhile, the defendant fled the area and went to a relative’s house seeking refuge and informed him that he had killed his friend, according to court papers.

The relative immediately contacted the police and turned him in, court documents added.

The Criminal Court’s attorney general had asked the higher court to uphold the sentence against the defendant stating that the court had abided by the proper legal procedures when sentencing the defendant.

The defendant contested the court ruling arguing that he “should benefit from a reduction in penalty because he killed the victim in a moment of rage”.

However, the Cassation Court ruled that the Criminal Court proceedings were proper and the sentence given was satisfactory.

The Court of Cassation judges were Mohammad Ibrahim, Bassem Mubeidin, Nayef Samarat, Yassin Abdullat and Mohammad Khashashneh.