Man handed 8-year jail term for attempted murder

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a March Criminal Court ruling, sentencing a man to a reduced prison term after convicting him of attempting to murder a man with a machinegun in Amman in February 2020.

The Criminal Court declared the defendant guilty of attempted murder on February 9, and handed him a 12-year prison sentence with temporary hard labour.

However, the court decided to reduce the prison term to eight years because the victim dropped the charges against the defendant.

Court papers said the defendant went to his in-laws house for a visit, where he subsequently engaged in “a heated argument” with a guest of the household.

"The victim challenged the defendant to harm him following the heated argument," the court documents said.

The defendant grabbed an automatic weapon from his vehicle and returned to his in-laws house, the court added.

“The defendant fired several rounds from his weapon and three struck the victim in the lower part of his body,” the court papers said.

The defendant contested his ruling via his lawyer, arguing that there were “legal errors in the investigation procedures”.

The Criminal Court’s attorney general asked the higher court to uphold the ruling.

The higher court ruled that the Criminal Court proceedings were accurate and that the defendant was given the appropriate punishment.

The Cassation Court bench comprised judges Mohmoud Ebtoush, Nayef Samarat, Hammad Ghzawi, Qassem Dughmi and Mohammad Khashashneh.