Man handed 4-year prison term for molesting teenage girl

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a November Criminal Court ruling sentencing a man to four years in prison after convicting him of molesting a teenage girl in Amman in February.

The court declared the defendant guilty of molestation charges against the 15-year-old girl on February 8 and handed him the maximum sentence of four years.

Court papers said the victim and the defendant became friends over the Facebook platform.

“Their friendship developed into a relationship, and they started seeing each other regularly,” according to the court transcripts.

The defendant convinced the victim to accompany him to a furnished apartment where he sexually molested her several times, according to court papers.

The matter was exposed and the victim’s family filed a complaint against him at the Family Protection department, the court verdict 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 depended on physical evidence, including to DNA, to prove that the defendant committed the crimes he was charged with,” the higher court ruled.

The Cassation Court bench comprised judges Mohammad Ibrahim, Saeed Mugheid, Mohammad Khashashneh, Fawzi Nahar and Hayel Amr.