Sentence upheld in beating death case

AMMAN — The Cassation Court has upheld an October Criminal Court decision sentencing a man to five years in prison after convicting him of beating a man to death in Amman in August 2016.

The Criminal Court first handed the defendant a 10-year prison term after convicting him of assaulting the victim with a wooden stick on August 12 while on a street in Jabal Amman.

However, the court decided to reduce the sentence to half because the victim's father and mother dropped charges against the defendant.

The victim died 10 days after the incident as a result of injuries sustained to his skull, the court added.

The Criminal Court also decided to amend the manslaughter charges originally pressed against the defendant to beating to death.

Court documents said that a few days before the incident, the defendant had a heated argument with the victim.

The argument was renewed on the day of the incident and the defendant grabbed a wooden stick and asked his friends to join him in beating up the victim, according to court transcripts.

"All the people involved in the fight were arrested," court documents added.

"The defendant confessed that he was the one who beat the victim on his head," court papers said.

The defendant did not contest the court ruling, but the attorney general at the Criminal Court did, asking the higher court to increase the sentence.

However, the Cassation Court ruled that the sentence given was satisfactory.

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