Man charged with manslaughter over shooting death of sister

AMMAN — Irbid Criminal Court prosecutor on Saturday charged a 48-year-old man with manslaughter in connection with the shooting death of his younger sister over the weekend while at her home in Ajloun Governorate.

The 38-year-old victim was allegedly shot several times by her brother, a retired military officer, on Friday night while at home with her mother in Kufranjeh in Ajloun, some 70km northwest of Amman, Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

The suspect reportedly placed the gun in his pocket and waited for the police to arrive and arrest him, a senior official source said.

In his initial testimony to Criminal Court Prosecutor Qahtan Qawaqzeh, the suspect said that he was sleeping and “woke up after hearing people fighting outside the house”, the judicial source said.

“The suspect, claimed to be diabetic and suffering from mental problems, said that he pulled the gun and started shooting thinking that he was shooting at the people fighting, but instead he shot his sister without realising what he was doing,” according to the judicial source.

Qawaqzeh decided not to “refer the suspect for mental evaluation for the time being pending further investigation”, the judicial source added.

A postmortem conducted at Irbid National Institute of Forensic Medicine said the victim died of multiple bullet wounds, a senior medical source said.

“The victim received six bullet wounds to her face, head and chest by a pistol,” the medical source told The Jordan Times.

Qawaqzeh ordered the suspect be detained at a correctional and rehabilitation centre pending further investigation.

The Criminal Court prosecutor also sent the gun to the criminal lab for a ballistic match, the judicial source added.