Man charged with murder of wife in ‘honour crime’

AMMAN — The Criminal Court prosecutor on Wednesday charged a 43-year-old construction worker with murder in connection with the alleged beating death of his wife for reasons related to "family honour" in Irbid, judicial sources said.

The suspect reportedly buried his 38-year-old wife, a mother of three children, shortly after the incident and then reported her missing, Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi had told The Jordan Times earlier this week.

However, investigators became suspicious of the husband and “upon gathering evidence they faced him with it”, the senior judicial source said.

As a result, the senior judicial source maintained, the husband “confessed to beating up his wife with a wooden stick on her head and different parts of her body”.

“The suspect told investigators that he murdered his wife because he suspected her behaviour for over three years,” the senior judicial source told The Jordan Times.

The suspect claimed in his initial testimony that “he beat up his wife with a wooden stick following an argument over her alleged affairs but was surprised to learn that she died”, the senior judicial source said.

The suspect claimed that he transported the victim’s body to a deserted area and buried her in a shallow grave, the senior judicial source added.

The suspect had ushered investigators to where he buried his wife on Monday.

The senior judicial source said that initial investigations have indicated that the “wife was not involved in any illegitimate affairs as her husband claimed”.

A second source told The Jordan Times that a forensic team recovered the body and performed an autopsy at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine in Irbid.

“The autopsy revealed that the woman died of a single fatal blow to the head caused by a blunt object,” the second source told said.

The second source added that the forensic team also “detected dozens of beating marks on different parts of her body that were also caused by a blunt object”.

The Criminal Court prosecutor also instructed forensic experts to extract blood and tissue samples for further analysis and examination, according to the judicial source.

The victim is survived by three children who are aged between six to 15 years, according to the senior judicial source.

Meanwhile, the Criminal Court prosecutor decided to summon the victim’s family members to learn more about the incident, according to the senior judicial source.

The suspect was ordered detained at a correctional and rehabilitation centre by the Criminal Court prosecutor for 15 days pending further investigation.