Man handed 8-year prison sentence for attempted murder

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a May Criminal Court ruling, sentencing a man to eight years in prison with hard labour after convicting him of attempting to murder a man in Amman in May 2019.

The Criminal Court declared the defendant guilty of attempted murder on May 3 and handed him a 12-year prison term with hard labour.

However, the court decided to reduce the sentence to eight years because the victim dropped the charges against the defendant.

Court papers said the defendant and the victim were at the latter’s home when a man came to fix the satellite.

An argument ensued among the three men, prompting the defendant to call two of his brothers to come over to the victim’s house.

When the brothers arrived, the group engaged in “a heated argument that turned into a scuffle", the court documents said.

The defendant grabbed a hammer and “struck the victim in the head with it multiple times,” the court added.

The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital and survived the assault after undergoing several surgeries to his skull.

The defendant contested his ruling via his lawyer arguing that there were “legal errors in the investigation procedures”.

The Criminal Court’s attorney general asked the higher court to uphold the eight-year sentence with hard labour ruling.

The higher court ruled that the Criminal Court proceedings were accurate and that the defendant was given the appropriate punishment.

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