Man, mother charged with manslaughter in stabbing death of Saudi neighbour

AMMAN — The Criminal Court prosecutor on Tuesday charged a man and his mother with manslaughter in connection with the stabbing death of their Saudi neighbour in an Amman suburb on Sunday, official sources said Tuesday.

The 67-year-old victim received multiple stab wounds to different parts of his body, allegedly inflicted by the suspects in the capital’s Rabia neighbourhood on Sunday night.

The suspects are a 22-year-old law student and his 64-year-old mother, a housewife, according to a senior official who is close to the investigation.

“The mother claimed to be the main perpetrator in the incident following a heated argument with their neighbour,” the source told The Jordan Times.

Meanwhile, her son retracted his previous confession to the police, denying any wrongdoing and refusing to cooperate with investigators, the source added.

But Criminal Court Prosecutor Ishaq Abu Awad, who is one of two prosecutors handling the case, is not convinced “that the mother did it alone”, according to the source.

“The victim was stabbed over 100 times with kitchen knives belonging to the suspects and Abu Awad believes that both were involved,” the source added.

In his initial testimony to police, the suspect told investigators that he “murdered his neighbour who lived above him because he was annoyed by a pounding noise the victim was making”.

The two had a heated argument that ended with the suspect reportedly stabbing his neighbour to death, the source said.

Abu Ishaq is still examining evidence and questioning witnesses and the suspects, a second source said.

Both suspects are detained at correctional and rehabilitation centres pending further investigation.

The Saudi national, who was living alone, has been residing in the Kingdom for a long period and investigators found dozens of old electric appliances “which could indicate that one of his hobbies was fixing old appliances”, according to the second source.