Man gets seven years for killing uncle

AMMAN — The Criminal Court on Tuesday sentenced a 23-year-old man to seven-and-a-half-years in prison after convicting him of beating his uncle to death in Madaba in July of 2016.

The court declared the defendant guilty of striking his 57-year-old uncle, a retired military officer, to the head with a rock following a heated argument on sheep herding rights in Theban on July 23, and handed him the maximum punishment.

The court also decided to amend the tougher manslaughter charges, to beating an individual to death.

During the hearing, the defendant banged at his cage’s iron bars in the court room and yelled that he was innocent.

The presiding judge, Ibrahim Abu Shamma, responded by telling the defendant that “his verdict was not final and that he can appeal it at the Court of Cassation”.

“Two out of the three judges in my tribunal found you guilty so now it is up to the higher court to review the case and make a final decision,” Judge Abu Shamma told the defendant.

The tribunal acquitted the defendant’s brother and mother of the same charge citing a lack of evidence.

The defendant’s lawyer, Sami Karaki, told The Jordan Times that he was content with the verdict.

“The verdict is fair since the charge was amended from manslaughter to beating to death,” Karaki said.

Nevertheless, the lawyer added, “I will appeal the verdict at the Court of Cassation because most probably, the general prosecutor will appeal it [the ruling] and ask to restore the original charges.”

According to the prosecution’s charge sheet, the defendant and the victim’s son got into a heated argument over “sheep grazing rights on the day of the incident”.

“The victim decided to visit their house to settle the problem, but was instead attacked by the defendant who threw a rock at him,” court documents said.

The rock struck the victim in the face and he was rushed to a nearby hospital, the court added.

The victim died 20 days later as a result of the wounds he sustained from the rock that “was thrown by the defendant”, according to court documents.

Criminal Court Prosecutor Ahmad Kinani had asked the court to give the defendant the maximum sentence.