Father charged with premeditated murder in connection with burning death of daughter

AMMAN — The Criminal Court prosecutor over the weekend charged a father with premeditated murder in connection with the reported burning death of his divorced teenage daughter for alleged honour-related issues in Amman last week, official sources said.

The suspect, in his 40s, allegedly poured gasoline on the bed of his daughter while she was sleeping and lit it on fire, a senior judicial source close to the investigations told The Jordan Times. 

“The suspect locked the door of his daughter’s room and went to a nearby police station where he turned himself in, claiming to have murdered his daughter for reasons related to family honour,” the senior judicial source told The Jordan Times.

The Civil Defence Department was called to extinguish a fire, and found the mother of two children in the burned room “where she was locked inside”, according to a judicial source.

“The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital, but was declared dead on arrival,” the senior judicial source added.

No one was at home during the alleged burning incident, according to the judicial source.  

In his initial testimony to the authorities, the suspect claimed that “his daughter, who was married at the age of 16, was ‘engaged in immoral activities’ and that is why he decided to kill her,” the source said.

The father claimed that his daughter would “often leave his house to unknown destinations”, the source maintained.

The source added that investigations conducted by the police and Criminal Court Prosecutor Farhan Abdullah concluded that the “victim was not engaged in any immoral act”.

“Our investigations so far indicated that the victim was not engaged in any illegitimate activities as the suspect claimed in his initial confessions,” the senior judicial source said.

A second source told The Jordan Times that the prosecution office is still waiting for the forensic report to determine if the victim was murdered before she was burned.

“We are still waiting on forensic and blood and tissue reports to learn more information regarding the circumstances of the murder,” the second official source told The Jordan Times.

The suspect was ordered detained at a correctional and rehabilitation centre by the criminal court prosecutor for 15 days pending further investigation into the incident.

The teenager’s murder became the second homicide related to an honour-related matter in the Kingdom in one week.

On May 9, a brother in his late 20s allegedly stabbed his younger sister, 21, to death at her family’s home in Irbid for alleged honour-related issues.