Man sentenced to over 2 years for robbery at knifepoint

AMMAN — The Cassation Court has upheld a June Amman Court of Appeals ruling, sentencing a man to over two years in prison after convicting him of robbing a man at knifepoint in Amman in May 2020. 

The Amman Court of Appeals declared the defendant guilty of robbing the victim of JD350 on May 20 in Yasmine neighbourhood and handed him a five-year prison term.

However, the court decided to reduce the sentence to half because the victim dropped charges against the defendant.

Court papers said the defendant and a second man, who was standing trial on the same charges but did not appeal his verdict, lured the victim to their house to discuss some business.

When the victim arrived to their house, court papers said, the two drew knives and asked him to surrender all his money.

“The victim informed them that he did not have any cash on him and that he kept it in his vehicle,” the court papers said.

They went to the victim’s vehicle and forced him to give them all the money he had at the time, which was JD350, the court added.

The defendants were later arrested by the authorities after the victim was able to identify them in a police lineup, court papers said. 

The defendant, through his lawyer, contested the Amman Court of Appeals’ ruling arguing that the “prosecution failed to provide solid evidence to convict him with the charges”.

The defence lawyer also charged that the court relied on contradictory statements by the witnesses.

Meanwhile, the Amman Court of Appeals’ attorney general asked the higher court to uphold the ruling. 

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

The Cassation Court bench comprised judges Mohammad Ibrahim, Majid Azab, Fawzi Nahar, Nayef Samarat and Hayel Amr.