Jordan: Woman who boiled 2-year-old step-son to death jailed 20-years

Dubai: A woman who murdered her two-year-old stepson in Jordan after a brawl with her husband, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, local media reported.

###

Jordan’s Court of Cassation has upheld a November 2019 Criminal Court ruling sentencing the woman to 20 years in jail.

###

The Criminal Court declared the defendant guilty of murdering the child by placing placed him in a boiling water following a brawl with her husband in early October 2018 and handed her the maximum penalty.

###

According to court files, the defendant was asked by her husband to take care of his four-year-old and two-year-old children, from another woman he divorced.

###

“The defendant would often beat up the children and mistreat them,” court papers said.

###

On the day of the incident, October 1, the defendant engaged in “a heated argument” with her husband and decided to “take revenge by killing the victim”.

###

“The defendant prepared boiled water, poured it into the bathtub and placed the victim inside,” court documents said.

###

First-degree burns

###

The victim started screaming and was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was admitted with first-degree burns, court papers added.

###

After two weeks, the child succumbed to burns at the hospital.

###

The defendant contested the verdict through her lawyer, arguing that she never confessed to murdering the victim.

###

“The court also depended on contradictory statements by some witnesses and the court cannot base its ruling on doubts,” the defence argued.

###

Meanwhile, the Criminal Court’s attorney general asked the higher court to uphold the 20-year sentence.

###

The higher court ruled that the Criminal Court proceedings had been accurate and that the defendant was given the appropriate punishment.