Court upholds sentence for man convicted of wife’s murder

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a Criminal Court ruling sentencing a 51-year-old Syrian electrician to 20 years in prison after convicting him of murdering his wife in Rusiefa in April 2016.

The court declared the defendant, who is a refugee registered with the UNHCR, guilty of stabbing his 46-year-old Syrian wife to death following a domestic dispute on April 15. 

Court documents said the couple had gotten into a heated argument two days before the murder and the matter was “renewed on the day of the stabbing”. 

“The defendant grabbed an ashtray and threw it at the victim and tried to strangle her with his hands, but she escaped to her daughter’s home next door,” according to court documents.

The husband grabbed a 19cm knife and “followed his wife to their daughter’s home and when the victim saw him she tried to escape again but she fell”, the court documents stated.

“The defendant grabbed his wife from her hair and stabbed her once in the back,” court documents maintained.

The victim started bleeding and then she ran outside the house seeking help, the court added.

“The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital but was declared dead on arrival from the stab wound to the back, which penetrated her heart,” the court said.

The family, which left Syria in 2011 following the unrest, is survived by three daughters, who are all married, and a six-year-old son, a senior judicial source previously told The Jordan Times when the incident happened.

The family also lost a son before leaving Syria, the source added.

The higher court ruled that the Criminal Court followed the proper procedures when sentencing the defendant and that he deserved the verdict he received. 

The Court of Cassation judges were Mohammad Ibrahim, Naji Zu’bi, Hammad Ghzawi, Yassin Abdullat and Nayef Samarat.