20-year jail term for man who killed colleague over love affair

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a September Criminal Court ruling sentencing a 46-year-old man to 20 years in prison after convicting him of killing his former colleague in Amman in June 2014.

The court declared the defendant guilty of fatally shooting his former colleague while she was in an elevator in Jabal Amman on June 22. The court also ordered the defendant to pay JD63,800 in compensation for the victim's family.

Court papers said the defendant met the victim almost six years before the incident, while they were working at a factory and a relationship developed between them.

"The victim left the factory and went to work in a different entity but the relationship continued," court papers said.

The defendant then became suspicious that the victim was seeing someone else and started monitoring her, the court stated.

On the day of the murder, the court maintained, the defendant followed the victim to a building in Jabal Amman and asked her what she was doing there.

"The defendant said she was going for a job interview but the defendant did not believe her and followed her before shooting her 12 times inside the elevator," according to the court verdict.

The defendant left and placed the weapon inside a plastic bag and gave it to his sister to hide, the court transcripts added.

The suspect was later arrested and the weapon retrieved, the court said.

The court said it relied on a report by the criminal lab that confirmed that the bullets fired at the victim came from the weapon found with the defendant's sister, the court transcripts stated.

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

The Court of Cassation judges were Mohammad Ibrahim, Naji Zubi, Yassin Abdullat, Bassim Mubeidin, and Majid Azab.