Court upholds five-year sentence in Zarqa attempted murder case

AMMAN — The Cassation Court has upheld a December Criminal Court decision to sentence a man to five years in prison after convicting him of attempting to murder a man over a construction dispute in Zarqa in May 2017.

The Criminal Court handed the defendant the maximum sentence after convicting him of shooting and attempting to kill a man following a heated dispute on May 15.

Court documents said the victim was working at a construction site next to a warehouse that belonged to the defendant.

A few days before the incident, court documents said, the defendant visited the victim and asked him to stop construction “because it was harming the warehouses, but the victim refused”, court papers said.

On the day of the incident, court documents said, the defendant headed to the construction site and “the minute he saw the victim, he fired several rounds at him, striking him in the thigh and legs”.

The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital by an ambulance and survived the shooting, according to court transcripts. 

The defendant contested the court ruling arguing that “the prosecution failed to provide solid evidence to implicate him”.

However, the Cassation Court ruled that the Criminal Court’s judgement fell within the rule of law, that the proceedings were proper and that the sentence given was satisfactory.

The Cassation Court tribunal comprised judges Mohammad Ibrahim, Yassin Abdullat, Bassem Mubeidin, Naji Zu’bi and Majid Azab.