Man detained for reportedly stabbing his sister to death in year's first 'honour crime'

AMMAN — The Criminal Court prosecutor on Saturday charged a 25-year-old man with the premeditated murder of his older sister in Amman over the weekend in the first reported so-called honour murder to occur this year in the Kingdom, official sources said.

The 39-year-old victim received multiple stab wounds to different parts of her body reportedly by her brother while standing in front of a private hospital on Friday evening near the University of Jordan on Queen Rania Street, a senior judicial source said.

The suspect then waited for police to arrive and turned himself in, claiming “family honour” as his motive, the judicial source told The Jordan Times.

In his initial testimony before Criminal Court Prosecutor Sultan Shakhanbeh, the suspect claimed that his sister left her family’s home for an undisclosed period.

On Friday, the judicial source added, the suspect told Shakhanbeh that “he learnt that his sister contacted her mother, wishing to see her, so he accompanied the mother to the rendezvous”.

“When he saw his sibling, he had a quick chat with her, then pulled a knife and stabbed her repeatedly,” according to the judicial source.

A 23-year-old man, who witnessed the stabbing incident, told The Jordan Times that he was standing near the victim and saw her being stabbed.

“I work in the area and heard a woman scream, and when I turned around I saw a man stabbing a woman,” the witness, who preferred not to be identified, said.

The witness added that he ran inside the hospital and called for security to help the woman.

A second witness, also speaking on condition of anonymity, added that the assailant “stood next to his sister’s body wielding a knife and asking people to stay away”.

“The man yelled at us: ‘This is my sister and this is a matter of family honour. Stay away everyone and let her bleed to death’,” the second witness told The Jordan Times.

The second witness added that the assailant “smoked a cigarette waiting for the police, who arrived shortly after the incident occurred and took him and his mother to a police station”.

“The mother stood nearby and seemed emotionless while looking at her daughter being stabbed and laying on the floor,” the second witness said. 

The victim was rushed to the hospital “she was stabbed in front of, but she was already dead”, the second witness said.

The victim’s body was taken to the University of Jordan Hospital on Saturday for an official autopsy, a medical source said.

“No one came forward to identify the victim,” a senior medical source told The Jordan Times.

Nevertheless, the source added, an official government autopsy will be performed on the victim on Sunday.

The suspect was ordered detained for 15 days by Shakhanbeh at a correctional and rehabilitation centre, pending further investigation into the incident.

“The mother was cleared by the prosecutor after establishing that she had no prior knowledge that her son was planning to murder her daughter,” the judicial source said.