Sri Lankan man charged with premeditated murder of colleague

AMMAN — The Criminal Court prosecutor on Sunday charged a 28-year-old Sri Lankan man with premeditated murder in connection with the death of his fellow national and colleague in Sahab over the weekend, official sources said.

The 35-year-old victim’s body was found behind the King Abdullah II Industrial Estate (KAIE) on Friday night “with blood under his head that was badly beaten”. 

Investigators found the victim’s mobile phone under his body and a gold necklace around his neck, and ruled out robbery as the motive.

In his initial statement in front of  Criminal Court Prosecutor Omar Hiari, the suspect claimed that the victim “owed him JD100 almost two weeks before the incident”, according to a judicial source close to the investigation.

The suspect claimed that he “asked the victim repeatedly for his money but he kept stalling and ignoring his demands,” the judicial source told The Jordan Times.

On the day of the incident, the source added, “the suspect and the victim argued about the matter again and the suspect claimed that the victim beat him up so he pushed him and he fell.”

“The suspect said he beat up the victim on the head three times with a rock then fled the scene,” the judicial source added.

Hiari ordered the suspect to be detained at a correctional and rehabilitation centre pending further investigation.

A second source told The Jordan Times that both the suspect and the victim lived together and worked in the same factory at the KAIE.

The suspect arrived in Jordan in 2014, while the victim had been in the Kingdom since 2009, according to the second source.