‘Honour killing’ case sent back to lower court

AMMAN — The Cassation Court overturned a February Criminal Court decision reducing the sentence of a 46-year-old security guard, who reportedly set his teenage daughter ablaze, killing her in December 2015 for reasons related to “family honour”.

The court originally handed the defendant a 24-year prison term after convicting him of setting his 13-year-old daughter on fire at their home in Jabal Qusour on December 12.  The victim died a week later as a result of burns that covered 80 per cent of her body.

However, the Criminal Court decided to slash the verdict in half because the victim’s mother and brother dropped charges against the defendant.

Court papers said the defendant was tough on the victim, “by restricting her movements, depriving her from seeking education and disciplining her through different harmful methods”.

On the day of the incident, the court documents said, the victim “left the house to go and see a friend without informing the defendant”.

When she returned home, court transcripts added, “the defendant reportedly cursed her, then locked the door and beat her up with a wooden stick and set her ablaze”.

“The victim’s siblings attempted to enter the room to rescue their sister, but could not because the defendant locked the door and refused to let them inside,” court papers said.

The defendant had claimed in front of investigators that “he had no intention of murdering his daughter but was disciplining her because she left the house without his permission and fell on a kerosene heater, so her body caught fire”.

The defendant also claimed that he wrapped her in a blanket in an attempt to extinguish the fire and that “his brothers who lived in the same building rushed to help him”.

However, the victim told police and attending physicians at the hospital before her condition deteriorated that “her father set her on fire”.

The Cassation Court ruled that the Criminal Court “should investigate if the victim had other family members who also wish to drop charges against the defendant”.

Therefore, higher court overturned the sentence and the case file will be returned to the Criminal Court for further consideration.

The Cassation Court tribunal comprised judges Mohammad Ibrahim, Yassin Abdullat, Bassem Mubeidin, Naji Zu’bi and Hamad Ghzawi.