Man receives life sentence for striking, killing two brothers with pickup

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld an October Criminal Court ruling sentencing a man to life in prison after convicting him of murdering two brothers in Balqa Governorate in June 2016.

The court declared the defendant guilty of driving his vehicle towards the two victims and killing them in Ein Al Basha area on June 7, 2016 and handed him the maximum punishment.

Court papers said the defendant’s brother had rented an apartment from the victims’ father, and one week before the incident, the two parties had argued about some rental fees.

On the day of the incident, the court documents said, the defendant’s father had had a heated argument over the phone with the victims’ brothers and they had "cursed at each other".

The defendant became enraged, jumped in his pickup truck and headed to the victims’ house, court papers added.

“The victims and other people were standing in the street and the minute he saw them, he drove towards them and struck the gathering, killing the two brothers instantly,” court transcripts said.

The Criminal Court’s attorney general asked the higher court to uphold the sentence against the defendant "because the punishment he received was proper".

Meanwhile, the defendant, through his lawyer, contested the court’s ruling, arguing that “he had never intended to kill the victims”.

“My client’s vehicle suffered from mechanical problems and he lost control of his pickup truck and struck the victims,” the defendant’s lawyer argued.

However, the higher court ruled that the Criminal Court had followed the proper procedures and the defendant deserved the verdict he had received.

“The defendant did not offer any evidence to prove that his vehicle had sustained mechanical problems at the time of the incident, and many of his siblings testified that they had driven the truck on several occasions before the accident,” the higher court stated.

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