Sentences upheld for man who fired on police, Jerash robbery defendant

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld an April Criminal Court ruling sentencing a man to 15 months in prison after convicting him of firing at police officers with a machine gun in Amman in July 2017.

The court declared the defendant guilty of opening fire on a police patrol in the Marj Al Hammam area with an automatic weapon on July 7, and handed him a sentence of one year and three months in prison.

Court papers said the defendant was with another man in a vehicle without a licence plate.

“When the defendant noticed that there was a police patrol that was about to stop them, he pulled out a machine gun and fired dozens of rounds at the police officers’ vehicle then fled the area.”

The defendant was later arrested, but the driver of the vehicle was never identified or caught, court documents added.

The defendant’s lawyer contested the Criminal Court’s ruling, charging that “the criminal court prosecutor failed to provide enough evidence to implicate his client”.

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

The Court has also upheld a May Criminal Court ruling sentencing a 26-year-old man to five years in prison after he was convicted of attempting to murder a minor during a failed robbery in Jerash in 2013.

The court declared the defendant guilty of attacking the minor with both blunt and sharp objects while attempting to rob the victim’s father’s shop on March 7, and handed him a 10-year prison term.

However, the court decided to reduce the sentence by half, because the victim dropped charges against the defendant.

Court papers said the victim was at his father’s furniture shop when “the defendant and three other men entered his shop to take a TV by force”.

“The victim refused to give them the TV, so the defendant and the other men, who did not appeal their verdicts, attacked him,” court documents said.

The defendant and the rest of the men were unable to steal the TV, because people in the area rushed to help the young man, causing the robbers to flee the scene, according to court transcripts.

The defendant’s lawyer contested the Criminal Court’s ruling, asking the court to declare his client innocent, saying that “there was not enough evidence to implicate his client and the court relied only on the victim’s testimonies, which were inconsistent and full of contradictions”.

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