Suspect in patricide referred for mental evaluation

AMMAN — The Criminal Court prosecutor on Sunday ordered that a 32-year-old man, charged with the premeditated murder of his father last week, be placed under mental evaluation until investigations are over.

The suspect reportedly stabbed his father to death in Amman's Nuzha suburb on Thursday morning following an argument, then headed to the nearest police station, a senior judicial source said.

On his way out of the house, the source maintained, “he saw his mother and asked her to forgive him for what he did”.

“The suspect handed officers on duty a knife that he said he used to murder his father,” the judicial source told The Jordan Times.

Criminal Court Prosecutor Issam Haddidi, who questioned the suspect, decided to refer him for mental evaluation to determine if he was sane.

“The suspect has a medical record and was being treated for schizophrenia, and Haddidi decided to refer him to a public mental institution for evaluation,” the judicial source added.

The suspect will remain detained while he is being psychologically evaluated by a team of government psychiatrists “to learn more of his mental condition”, the source added.

“Haddidi will continue to question relatives and witnesses in the case and will refer the case to the Criminal Court. In the meantime, the government psychiatrists' report will be referred to court and based on it the tribunal will either proceed with the trial or declare him not responsible for his action and refer him to a mental institution to follow up on his case,” the judicial source explained.

Head of the National Institute of Forensic Medicine Kais Koussous told The Jordan Times recently that the victim received 13 stab wounds to different parts of his body.

“The post-mortem indicated that most stab wounds were focused around his neck, chest and stomach,” Koussous said.