Court upholds sentence for man convicted of murdering brother

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a February Criminal Court ruling sentencing a 56-year-old man to 20 years in prison after convicting him of murdering his brother over inheritance issues in Mafraq in May 2016.

The court declared the defendant guilty of shooting his brother to death on May 6 over a 16-year-old inheritance feud, and handed him the maximum sentence.

Court papers said the defendant and the victim were constantly quarrelling about their inheritance rights and “when their father died in 2014, the problems escalated”.

As a result of the repeated feuds, court documents maintained, the “victim and the defendant stopped talking to each other”.

On the day of the incident, the court added, the defendant was driving his vehicle and spotted the victim on the street.

“The defendant descended from his vehicle and started discussing the old feuds with his brother, but he refused to talk to him, which angered him,” the court verdict added.

The defendant returned to his vehicle, “grabbed a gun that he kept there and headed back to his brother and fired 10 rounds at him, of which, five struck him in the chest and stomach”.

“The defendant stood next to his brother to make sure he was dead then headed to the nearest police station and turned himself in to police claiming to have killed his sibling over the inheritance matters,” the court added.

The Criminal Court had amended the premeditated murder charges originally pressed against the defendant by the prosecutor, “because it was proven to the court that he did not plot to murder his brother and that he met the victim by coincidence on the day of the incident”.

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