Cassation court upholds sentence of street vendor’s killer

AMMAN — The Cassation Court has upheld a January Criminal Court ruling sentencing a man to 20 years in prison after convicting him of robbing, murdering and setting ablaze a street vendor in an Amman suburb in January 2013.

The Criminal Court had found the man guilty in December of the robbery, manslaughter and burning of the 50-year-old victim on January 31 in Jabal Jofeh and handed him the maximum punishment.

Court papers said that the victim, who was a street vendor selling cigarettes and phone cards, informed the convict that his father came to him asking if he smoked or not.

"The street vendor informed the defendant that he planned to tell his father that he smoked if he saw him smoking so the defendant plotted to kill the victim in revenge," the court verdict said.

On the day of the incident, the court maintained, the defendant convinced the victim to take him where he resided and "while his back was turned to him he stabbed him repeatedly with a knife that was in the victim's house, stole JD37 cash then set the room on fire using a gas cylinder".

The defendant fled the house, had dinner and bought a silver ring with the money he stole, the 10-page verdict said.  

The following day he was arrested by police and confessed to the murder, the court added.  

The Cassation Court, which issued its ruling earlier in the month, ruled that the Criminal Court’s ruling fell within the law and that the proceedings were proper and that the sentence given was justifiable.

The Cassation Court tribunal comprised judges Yassin Abdullat, Mohammad Tarawneh, Daoud Tubeileh, Hussein Sakran and Basem Mubeidin.