Court readies to hear murder case involving family honour

AMMAN — The Criminal Court prosecutor on Sunday referred a university student’s file to the court so they can begin trying him for allegedly murdering his married sister in April for reasons related to family honour, according to official sources.

The 27-year-old victim, a mother of two children, was reportedly stabbed to death and had her throat allegedly slit by her brother who turned himself in to police shortly after the murder in one of the Kingdom’s governorates in late April, a senior judicial source said.

Criminal Court Prosecutor Ishaq Abu Awad charged the 23-year-old with premeditated murder, the judicial source told The Jordan Times.

In his initial testimony to Abu Awad, the young man claimed that he suspected that his sister was involved in an extra-marital affair with a man who arrived at her house at night to deliver a package, according to the senior judicial source.

“The suspect, who lived in the same building as the victim, informed investigators that he saw his sister via cameras taking a package from a man, so he consumed alcohol and asked her to come to his house,” the judicial source said.

The suspect asked his sibling “about what he saw on the surveillance cameras and she informed him that it was a delivery of cream products that she ordered via the Internet”, the judicial source said.

“The suspect said he did not believe her and attempted to strangle his sister but she resisted so he grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed her and slit her throat,” according to the judicial source.

A second source told The Jordan Times that the victim’s husband lives and works outside the Kingdom and that “most probably he will not drop charges against the defendant”.