Court upholds five-year molestation sentence

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld an October Criminal Court ruling sentencing a guard to five years in prison for molesting a teenager in February of last year in Amman.

The defendant was convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy after luring him to his room in Shafa Badran on February 28, and was handed the maximum sentence.

Court papers said the defendant, who worked as a guard for one of the buildings in the Shafa Badran area, knew the victim, since he lived in the same neighbourhood and “would often talk with him”.

On the day of the incident, the court maintained, the victim was returning to his family’s home when the defendant met him and invited him to his room for coffee.

“The defendant showed the victim a pornographic clip from his mobile and then asked him to engage in sexual activities with him in return for money and cigarettes,” court transcripts said.

The boy refused so the defendant grabbed him closer “and touched his private parts and attempted to molest him, but could not continue because the victim resisted,” court transcripts added.

The victim then left the apartment, immediately notified his family of the incident and the defendant was arrested.

The defendant contested the Criminal Court’s ruling, asking to be declared innocent and arguing that the “court failed to rely on solid evidence to implicate him and depended on contradictory testimonies”.

The defendant also claimed that he was subjected to “torture and duress in order to confess to something that he did not do”.

However, the Cassation Court ruled that the verdict was correct and the defendant deserved the sentence he received.

The Cassation Court comprised judges Yassin Abdullat, Mohammad Tarawneh, Naji Zu’bi, Majid Azab and Hammad Ghzawi.