Man gets 8-year jail term for attempted murder

AMMAN — The Cassation Court has upheld a January Criminal Court ruling sentencing a man to eight years in prison after convicting him of attempting to murder a man in Irbid in January 2018.

The Criminal Court declared the defendant guilty of setting the victim ablaze on January 4, with the help of his brother, who is a minor, and handed him the maximum sentence.  

 Court papers said, on the day of the incident, the defendant went to the victim’s shop to discuss a complaint filed against his younger brother, who was also charged with attempted murder but was tried in a separate court.

The defendant threatened the victim and his family members saying,  “if my brother is imprisoned I will set you all and your vehicles on fire,” court documents said.

The defendant then went to a gas station with his younger brother and bought gasoline and went back to the victim’s home, according to court documents.

“The victim was about to park his vehicle when the defendant and his brother approached him and poured the flammable substance on his vehicle and set it ablaze and then fled the scene,” the court papers said.

  The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital and survived the fire but was permanently disabled, the court papers added.

 The Criminal Court’s general attorney had asked the higher court to uphold the eight-year sentence ruling.

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

The Cassation Court  bench comprised judges Mohammad Ibrahim, Yassin Abdullat, Majid Azab, Nayef Samarat and Naji Naji Zu’bi.