Death sentence for woman convicted of killing father in South Amman

The Grand Criminal Court has sentenced a woman in her twenties to death by hanging after convicting her of murdering her father by shooting him in one of South Amman's neighborhoods.

The defendant had attempted to mislead investigators by staging the crime to appear as a suicide.

Case details

The court found the defendant guilty of parricide, a violation of Article 328/3 of the Penal Code.

According to the court's ruling, the defendant had filed a complaint against her father in 2023, accusing him of sexual assault and drunken misconduct. However, the court acquitted him of the sexual assault charges, and he was released after a two-month detention.

Following his release, the defendant moved with her mother and siblings to a residence in South Amman, where they lived in a building shared with her mother’s family.

Meanwhile, her father lived separately with his wife and children, while the defendant and her sister resided in their grandmother’s home.

The court stated that the defendant believed her father was the source of her misery and an obstacle to her happiness, harboring resentment that led her to plot his murder.

The crime

In March of this year, the defendant carried out the crime, exploiting her father’s vulnerability while he slept. She disconnected the home's security cameras before sneaking into his room at dawn and shooting him with his own firearm. She then placed the weapon in his hand to make it appear as though he had taken his own life.

After the act, the defendant returned to her grandmother’s house before rejoining her mother’s residence, claiming to have heard her siblings screaming upon discovering their father’s bloodied body.

Forensic evidence confirmed the victim's epithelial cells on the firearm, proving its use in the crime. During the investigation, the defendant confessed to the murder in statements to law enforcement and the public prosecutor, ultimately leading to her death sentence.