Two arrested for murder of retired school teacher

AMMAN — Irbid Criminal Court prosecutor over the weekend charged a man with premeditated murder and attempted robbery in connection with the killing of a retired school teacher at his house in late May, official sources said.

The 80-year-old victim, who lived alone, was found dead by his relatives on May 27 in Nuimeh town. Police immediately suspected foul play, a senior official source said.

On Friday, police said they arrested two men: a civilian and a member of the military, with investigations indicating that “they were the prime suspects in the victim’s murder”.

“The military suspect claimed that he entered the victim’s house with the second suspect to rob him, since they had prior knowledge that he lived alone,” a senior judicial source said.

The suspect claimed that the victim “woke up and attempted to intervene, so they killed him by hitting him with a blunt object on his head”, the judicial source told The Jordan Times.

Meanwhile, the civilian suspect, who was questioned by Criminal Court Prosecutor Qahtan Qawaqzeh, “denied any involvement in the murder and claimed that, when he entered the house to rob it with the second suspect, the victim was already dead”.

“The civilian suspect claimed that he saw the man dead when he entered the house and that the two took some cash and left the house,” the judicial source added.

Police were able to solve the crime based on evidence collected at the scene by investigators and criminal lab experts, the official source added.

The military suspect is currently being questioned by a military prosecutor and will be tried separately in a military court. Both men remained detained at military and civil prisons pending further investigation.