Man handed 20-year jail term for sexually assaulting private lessons teacher

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a March Criminal Court ruling, sentencing a man to 20 years in prison after convicting him of sexually assaulting a private lessons teacher in Amman in November 2020.

The court declared the defendant guilty of molestation and attempted rape charges, and handed him the maximum sentence for his crime that was committed on November 3.

Court papers said the defendant saw an advertisement that was posted by the victim on her Facebook page that she gives English and math private lessons for high school students.

“The defendant decided to sexually molest the victim and contacted her claiming that he was interested in her services,” court papers said.

The victim asked the defendant to establish contacts with his wife but every time “he would create an excuse that she is not available”.

On the day of the incident, the court maintained, the victim went to the defendant’s home and when “he opened the door she asked if his wife was home”.

“The defendant pretended to call his wife, so the victim walked into his home, and he immediately attacked her,” court papers said.

The victim begged him not to rape her, court papers maintained, so “he ended up molesting her”.

“The victim managed to convince him to let her leave the house promising not to file a complaint against him,” according to court papers.

The victim headed to a nearby police station to file a complaint against him, court documents added.

The defendant appealed his verdict through his lawyer claiming that the prosecution failed to provide “any solid evidence to implicate him”.

The defence also claimed that the victim provided contradictory statements, which could not be used as evidence against his client.

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

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

“The court decided to go with the maximum punishment for this crime because of the gravity of the incident that was committed by the defendant,” the court verdict stated.

The Court of Cassation was headed by Judge Mohammad Ibrahim and included judges Fawzi Nahar, Nayef Samarat, Mohammad Khashashneh and Ahmad Qatawneh.