Cassation Court upholds over three-year sentence in restaurant robbery

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a March 2022 Irbid Appeals Court ruling sentencing a man to over three years in prison after convicting him of committing a violent robbery in a restaurant in January 2020.

The defendant was convicted of snatching two shawarma sandwich meals worth JD10 from a restaurant in downtown Irbid and hitting the owner with a chair in the process.

However, the court decided to reduce the prison term to three years and eight months “because the defendant was young and deserved a second chance in life”.

Court papers said the defendant headed to a restaurant at night to buy two shawarma meals.

When the employee handed over the meals to the defendant, the court maintained, he took the sandwiches “and refused to pay for them”.

“The owner of the restaurant asked the defendant to pay for the meals, but he refused and hit him with a chair on his head and left,” the court maintained.

The restaurant owner filed a complaint, and police were able to identify the defendant from the establishment’s cameras, the court added.

The defendant contested the Irbid Appeals Court’s ruling through his lawyer, asking for a lesser charge claiming that “his client agreed with the restaurant owner to pay for the meals on another day because he did not have cash on him”.

Meanwhile, the Irbid Appeals Court’s general attorney asked the higher court to uphold the verdict against the defendant.

The Court of Cassation ruled that the verdict was correct and the defendant deserved the ruling he had received. 

The Cassation Court comprised judges Mahmoud Ebtoush, Mohammad Khashashneh, Nayef Samarat, Qassem Dughmi and Hammad Ghzawi.