Criminal Court hands man 20 years for strangling wife

AMMAN — The Criminal Court sentenced a 28-year-old Sudanese refugee to 20 years in prison after convicting him of murdering his wife in a domestic dispute in Amman earlier this year.

The court declared the defendant guilty of strangling his Sudanese wife to death while at their home in Jabal Amman on January 20, and handed him the maximum sentence, a senior judicial source said.

“The victim and his wife are both refugees who have been residing in Jordan for a while now,” the senior judicial source said.

Court documents said that on the day of the incident, the couple engaged in a heated argument about the time their son should go to bed.

“The husband struck his wife with a plate, then jumped on her and strangled her to death with his hands,” the court documents said.

The husband then called the Civil Defence Department to come and rescue his wife “but it was too late”, according to the charge sheet.

Criminal Court Prosecutor Ishaq Abu Awad had asked the court to inflict the maximum punishment on the defendant.

The court comprised of judges Majid Rafayah, Mohammad Khalayleh and Imad Khatayebeh.

The verdict, which was issued last week, will automatically be reviewed by the Court of Cassation within the next 30 days.