Repeat offender jailed for attempted murder

AMMAN — The Cassation Court has upheld a May Criminal Court ruling, sentencing a repeat offender to an increased prison term for attempting to murder a man and causing a permanent disability to the victim in February 2015.

The court first handed the defendant a 10-year prison term after convicting him of attempting to murder the victim over old feuds on February 11, which resulted in the victim losing his leg following the shooting incident.

However, the court decided to increase the sentence by one year because the defendant was a repeat offender, the court documents said.

Court papers said the victim and the defendant were involved in constant feuds and as a result the “latter decided to murder the victim”.

On the day of the incident, the court maintained, that the defendant spotted the victim in his neighbourhood and asked his brother, who did not appeal his verdict, to help him overpower the victim “so that he can shoot him”.

“The defendant’s brother pinned the victim to the ground, and the latter shot him several times and one of the bullets struck a major artery in the victim’s leg,” court papers said.

The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital and survived the shooting incident but had his leg amputated because one of the bullets hit a major artery, the court said.

The defendants did not contest the Criminal Court’s ruling, according to court documents.

The Criminal Court’s attorney general asked the higher court, two months after the verdict was issued, to uphold the ruling against the defendant.

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