The Jordanian Court of Cassation

JORDAN: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING HIS MOTHER

April 20, 2022:

The Court of Cassation upheld a Criminal Court ruling, sentencing a 42-year-old man to death after convicting him of murdering his mother in Amman, Jordan Times reported on 17 April 2022.
The court declared the defendant guilty of the premeditated murder of the 59-year-old victim by her son while at his home in the North Marka neighbourhood on 11 March 2021 and handed him the death penalty.
The Criminal Court decided to hand the defendant a “stiff punishment because of the severity of the murder that was committed against his mother”.
Court documents said the victim travelled from her hometown in Ajloun to Amman on Tuesday “to visit her son and help him with his housework".
The victim woke up at dawn to pray and engaged in a heated argument with the defendant who was under the influence of illegal narcotics.
“The defendant grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed his mother repeatedly on her face and neck then he slit her throat,” according to court papers.
The defendant was arrested following complaints from the neighbours who heard a woman screaming and alerted the authorities, the court documents added.
The post-mortem performed on the victim at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine (NIFM) indicated that the victim died of haemorrhagic shock caused by the stabbing, according to court documents. 
“Most of the stab wounds were centred on her face and neck,” the court papers said quoting the NIFM's report.
The defendant’s lawyer contested the ruling arguing that his client was “under the influence of drugs at the time of the murder and was unable to control his feelings or actions”.
Meanwhile, the Criminal Court’s general attorney asked the higher court to uphold the ruling.
The higher court ruled that the “court proceedings were accurate and the defendant deserves the punishment he received”.