Defendant accused of killing father referred for mental evaluation

AMMAN — The Criminal Court prosecutor on Sunday referred a 38-year-old Syrian, who reportedly killed his father while at home in Amman with a fork, for mental evaluation.

The 91-year-old victim was reportedly stabbed multiple times by his son with a fork on Saturday, before the suspect attempted to escape by jumping from the balcony of his apartment in the Abu Nuseir neighbourhood.

Jihad Dureidi, criminal court prosecutor, charged him with premediated murder.

A senior official source had told The Jordan Times that the suspect “has been treated for mental illness for around 15 years and he most probably stopped taking the medication shortly before the murder occurred”.

“The Criminal Court prosecutor decided to refer the suspect to the National Institute of Psychiatric Medicine for an evaluation of his mental status at the time the incident occurred,” a senior judicial source told The Jordan Times on Monday.

Such evaluation could take less than three months before a team of government physicians determines the suspect’s mental status, the judicial source added.

The victim’s eyes and other parts of his body were also found dismembered at his home, a senior judicial source said.

Police stormed the apartment after neighbours called and said they had heard screams and a scuffle in the apartment and “saw the suspect standing on top of his father’s body”. 

The suspect ran towards the balcony of the apartment and jumped three floors down and was injured.