Man jailed for 10 years for attempted murder

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a July Criminal Court ruling, sentencing a man to 10 years in prison after convicting him of attempting to murder a man and his family in Amman in September 2020.

The Criminal Court declared the defendant guilty of attempted murder on September 29 and handed him a 15-year prison term.

However, the court decided to reduce the sentence to 10 years because the victim dropped the charges against the defendant.

Court papers said the victim and the defendant had an old feud.

On the day of the incident, the court maintained, the defendant headed to the victim’s house around midnight.

"The victim and his family were sitting on the balcony of their third-floor apartment,” the court papers said.

The defendant fired towards them from a pistol striking the victim in the knee, the court stated.

“The defendant’s bullet spray also caused minor destruction to the lights and lamps that were in the balcony,” the court maintained.

No one else was injured in the shooting incident, the court papers added.

The defendant then proceeded to attack the victim’s bus with a blunt object and fired several rounds at the parked vehicle, according to the court documents.

The defendant contested the ruling via his lawyer arguing that there were “legal errors in the investigation procedures”.

The Criminal Court’s attorney general asked the higher court to uphold the 10-year sentence.

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

The Cassation Court bench comprised judges Yassin Abdullat, Nayef Samarat, Nayef Samarat, Hammad Ghzawi, Qassem Dughmi, and Mohammad Khashashneh.