Man who killed son through ‘disciplining’ jailed for 12 years

AMMAN — The Cassation Court has upheld a February Criminal Court ruling sentencing a man to 12 years in prison after convicting him of beating his nine-year-old son to death in the Zaatari Refugee Camp in December of 2015.

The Criminal Court had found the man, a Syrian national, guilty of beating his child on different parts of his body on December 22, causing his death from organ failure and internal bleeding two days later.

The court sentenced him to a 12-year sentence.

 The court also decided to amend the manslaughter charges originally pressed against the defendant by the Criminal Court to beating to death, “because the court concluded that the defendant did not plan to murder his son and he was only disciplining him,” court papers said. 

“It was clear to the court that the defendant was beating his son to discipline him and prevent him from performing acts of robbery. Murder is surely ruled out in this incident,” the Criminal Court ruled.

Two days before the child’s death, the defendant learned that his son had been involved in a robbery “so he beat him up with his hands,” court documents said.

“The defendant then tied the boy up with a rope and beat him more with his hands for another day,” according to the court papers.

The boy’s health condition deteriorated on December 24. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he died of his injuries, the eighth-page verdict said.

The Criminal Court general attorney had called on the higher court to uphold the 12-year sentence.

The Cassation Court, which issued its ruling in late April, ruled that the Criminal Court’s ruling falls within the law, that the proceedings were proper and that the sentence given was satisfactory.

The Court of Cassation comprised judges Yassin Abdullat, MohammadTarawneh, Daoud Tubeileh, Mohammad Beirodi and Bassem Mubeidin.