Suspect charged in Tabarbour murder case

AMMAN — The Criminal Court prosecutor on Sunday charged a 42-year-old Syrian man with manslaughter in connection with the murder of a woman at her home in an Amman neighbourhood over the weekend, official sources said.

The victim’s daughter reportedly found her mother’s body on Friday evening when she returned home where the two resided in Tabarbour neighbourhood and alerted the authorities.

 Police on Sunday announced that they arrested the suspect after their investigation led them to consider him as a person of interest in the murder of the 53-year-old woman, Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said. 

The police official told The Jordan Times that during the initial questioning, the suspect “confessed to murdering the victim and said he went to her house because he learnt from his mother that she was looking for a place to rent”. 

“The two argued over the matter and the suspect hit her with a blunt object on different parts of her body and left the apartment,” according to Sartawi.

 A second source said police became suspicious of the suspect after a neighbour of the victim informed them that he “knocked on his door to ask about the victim’s address”.

“When the suspect was summoned by the police he immediately confessed to murdering the woman following an argument,” the second source told The Jordan Times. 

In his initial testimony to Criminal Court Prosecutor Jihad Dureidi, the suspect claimed that “he was unaware of what he did and that he started feeling dizzy while sitting with the woman”, a senior judicial source said.

“The suspect claimed that he does not remember his actions and that he might be suffering from mental problems,” the judicial source told The Jordan Times.

 Dureidi, however, decided to charge the suspect “because he felt that he was fit and sane when he said his story”, the judicial source maintained.

“The criminal court prosecutor is expected to hear more witnesses in the case and is also waiting for criminal lab results,” the judicial source added.

Dureidi ordered the suspect be detained at a correctional and rehabilitation centre for 15 days pending further investigation, the senior judicial source said.