Cassation Court upholds death penalty for jilted woman

AMMAN — The Cassation Court upheld a Criminal Court ruling from December 2014 sentencing a 25-year-old woman to death for murdering a man who married a different woman in 2013 in one of the Kingdom’s governorates.

The Criminal Court sentenced the defendant to death in mid-December after convicting her of murdering a 33-year-old man with whom she had been involved in a relationship, while in his vehicle on May 19, 2013.

The victim, who worked at the Development and Employment Fund, and the defendant were involved in a relationship since late 2010, and the defendant  hoped that they would eventually marry, the court papers said.

On May 15, 2013, the court added, the defendant learned from a relative that “the man she was in love with was marrying another woman and had already distributed the wedding invitations.”

 “The defendant became enraged and thought of killing herself or killing him to prevent the marriage by using a gun that belonged to her father,” the court transcripts said.

The woman decided to murder the victim and four days later, she lured him to a deserted area, claiming that she wanted to discuss a matter with him, according to the court.

When they reached a secluded area, the court papers added, “the defendant pulled out the gun and fired seven rounds at the victim, aiming at the upper part of his body.”

The woman then headed to her university, where she sat for an exam, after which she went to the market, bought seven bullets, reloaded her father’s gun and returned it to the safe place where it was kept, according to the court. 

Police arrested the woman on June 1, 2013, after concluding that she was the perpetrator based on DNA evidence found in the victim’s vehicle, the judicial source said.

The defendant had contested the Criminal Court ruling and demanded a lighter sentence, arguing that “she committed her murder in a fit of fury,” according to the 10-page verdict.

However, the five-judge tribunal at the Cassation Court disagreed and ruled that the defendant plotted the murder and therefore deserved the capital punishment.

“It was clear from the Criminal Court’s proceedings that the defendant planned the murder because she had two thoughts: either to commit suicide or to kill the victim,” the higher court ruled earlier this year.

The defendant eventually chose the second option and plotted the murder by “obtaining her father’s gun and luring the victim to the deserted area where she killed him,” the court added.

The Cassation Court tribunal comprised judges Kareem Tarawneh, Basel Abu Anzeh, Yassin Abdullat, Mohammad Tarawneh and Bassem Mubeideen.