6-year jail term upheld for man who killed 5-year-old girl over JD20

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a May Criminal Court ruling sentencing a gas station employee to six years in prison after convicting him of killing a five-year-old child over a dispute involving a JD20 debt in the Jordan Valley in June 2016.

The court declared the defendant guilty of causing the death of the child who was sitting in a vehicle with her uncle, who had an argument with the employee over JD20 on June 28 and handed him the maximum penalty.

Court papers said that the victim was with her uncle in the car when he stopped to fill his car at a gas station.

“The defendant started arguing with the uncle,” court documents added. 

The defendant and two other men started attacking the vehicle with wooden sticks and broke the glass of its windows, forcing the man and the girl to flee the scene in their car, according to court papers.

“The defendant and the two men followed the vehicle and started throwing rocks at it and one of the rocks struck the child in the head, causing her immediate death,” the court maintained.

The defendant had contested the Criminal Court ruling, arguing through his lawyer that “the prosecutor failed to provide solid evidence against him to implicate him in the incident”.

However, the Court of Cassation ruled that the Criminal Court proceedings were correct and the defendant deserved the punishment he received.

The higher court comprised judges Mohammad Ibrahim, Naji Zubi, Yassin Abdullat, Mohammad Tarawneh and Daoud Tubeileh.