Woman charged with manslaughter in connection with murder of her 2 children

AMMAN — The Criminal Court prosecutor on Saturday charged a woman with two counts of manslaughter in connection with the alleged strangulation of her two children in Amman over the weekend, senior official sources said.

The woman reportedly strangled her eight-year-old daughter and her six-year-old son while at her home in Sahab on Friday, Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said.

“We received a call from the victims’ father who informed us that his wife murdered their two children,” Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

A special task force headed to the couple’s home and “arrested the mother without any major incident”, the police official said.

“Investigators found two children’s bodies in the house and the Criminal Court prosecutor ordered that the bodies be sent to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine for an autopsy,” Sartawi added.

The police official would not reveal any motive behind the double murder other than to say that the case is being investigated by the authorities.

According to the post-mortem report, the children died of asphyxiation, a senior judicial source said.

The prosecution office is currently questioning the mother to learn more about the motive that led her to “kill her two children”, the senior judicial source told The Jordan Times.

Blood and tissue samples taken from the victims were sent to the Crime Lab for further analysis, the senior judicial source stated.

The suspect was ordered detained at a women’s correctional and rehabilitation centre for 15 days pending further investigation, the senior judicial source added.

Secretary General of the National Council for Family Affairs Mohammad Miqdadi said the Kingdom is witnessing an increase in crime incidents within families.

In 2019, Miqdadi told The Jordan Times, the reported cases were around 10,000.

But recently, Miqdadi added, the reported “cases is estimated to be 14,000”.

“There are many factors that are contributing to this increase, including poverty, unemployment, drug abuse, psychological problems and the surrounding social environment,” according to Miqdadi.

Friday’s double murder is the second incident reportedly involving parents who murder their own children during this month.

On July 5, a 49-year-old father allegedly murdered his 12 and nine-year-old daughters in Ramtha District over a span of 10 days.

The suspect allegedly buried one child in a shallow grave, while dumping the body of his second daughter in a cesspool in the backyard of the house.

Investigators are keeping a tight-lip over the motive behind the double murder in Ramtha earlier this month.