'Aqaba man may face charges after false report of daughter's drowning'

AMMAN — An Aqaba resident might face criminal charges after falsely reporting that his daughter had drowned in the sea over the weekend, official sources said Saturday.

The suspect called the Civil Defence Department (CDD) at 5pm on Friday, claiming that his 10-year-old daughter had drowned, a senior CDD official said.

“We sent 12 divers to the sea to search for the girl, and six hours later we halted our search after being informed by police that the missing girl was at her father’s house,” the CDD official told The Jordan Times.

Public Security Department spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi, told The Jordan Times that police launched a probe into the incident immediately after the father filed a missing person case.

“Our investigations led us to believe that the claim was false and when we went to the father’s house, we found the girl,” Sartawi said.

A second source told The Jordan Times that based on the man’s initial testimony after his daughter was found by police, “it was an act of revenge”.

“The man said he was going through marital problems with his wife and made the false claims as a form of revenge,” the second source said.

The police official said most probably the man would face “some form of criminal charges once investigations are over”.

“The man might be referred to the Aqaba governor for legal prosecution.”

A senior governor, who preferred not to be identified, told The Jordan Times on Saturday that in similar cases of false claims, “the individuals are obliged to sign a guarantee that they would not repeat their offence”.

“The individuals could also be referred to court, which will decide whether to impose a fine or sentence the individual to prison,” the senior governor added.