Cassation Court upholds acquittal of sisters in father’s death case

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a June 2022 Criminal Court ruling acquitting two sisters of murdering their father in Amman in August 2020. 

The court decided to acquit the two sisters of manslaughter charges “for lack of evidence and because it was proven that they had no intention of allowing their father to die by suicide”. 

The 80-year-old victim, who suffered from senile dementia and other diseases related to the heart, jumped from the fourth floor of his apartment in the Jubeiha neighbourhood on August 20. 

Court papers said the victim would often leave the house to unknown destinations because of his health condition. 

On the day of the incident, the court maintained, the victim placed a chair next to a window on their apartment’s balcony. 

“One of the defendants was in the kitchen while the second was in the bathroom,” according to court papers. 

One of the sisters yelled at her father to return inside the house while the second filmed him “to prove that his actions are uncontrollable“, the court said. 

The victim ended up jumping from the balcony and fell to his death, the court added.  

The elderly man was rushed to a nearby hospital but was declared dead on arrival, the court added. 

The defendants did not contest their verdicts at a higher court.

Meanwhile, the Criminal Court’s general attorney contested the acquittal verdict arguing that the siblings saw their father climbing the balcony to kill himself. 

“The two defendants could have prevented their father from taking his own life, but they did not,” the Criminal Court’s general attorney stated 

The higher court ruled that the Criminal Court followed the proper procedure when sentencing and the defendant deserved the verdict he received.  

“It was clear to the court that the defendants did call on their father to return to the house and filmed the incident to prove they had nothing to do with anything that their late father might do,” the court ruled. 

The Court of Cassation judges were Mohammad Ibrahim, Yassin Abdullat, Hammad Ghzawi, Qassem Dughmi and Nayef Samarat.