Cassation Court upholds over 6-year sentence in teen’s killing by stray bullet

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a March 2024 Criminal Court ruling sentencing a man to over six years in prison after convicting him of killing a teenage boy while celebrating a wedding in Amman in March 2022.

The court first declared the defendant guilty of shooting live ammunition to celebrate a wedding, which resulted in the death of a 17-year-old boy in the Nadeef neighbourhood on March 10.

The defendant was handed a 10-year prison term.

However, the court decided to immediately reduce the sentence to six years and eight months because the victim’s family dropped the charges against the defendant. 

Court papers said the defendant was celebrating a wedding when he drew a gun and fired several rounds while pointing his gun at the floor.

“A bullet deflected and struck the victim who was returning to his house,” the court said.

The victim received a fatal bullet to his head, the court maintained.

The court relied in its ruling on a ballistic report that indicated that “the bullet extracted from the victim was a match to the gun used by the defendant”.

The defendant did not contest his ruling at a higher court.

 Meanwhile, the Criminal Court’s general attorney asked the Court of Cassation to uphold the ruling.

The higher court ruled that the Criminal Court followed the proper procedure when sentencing, and the defendant deserved the verdict he received. 

The Court of Cassation judges were Mahmoud Ebtoush, Nayef Samarat, Hammad Ghzawi, Qassem Dughmi and Mohammad Sharari.