Man handed 5-year prison term for molestation

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a December Criminal Court ruling, sentencing a man to five years in prison after convicting him of molesting a minor in Amman in November 2019.

The court declared the defendant guilty of sexually assaulting the 14-year-old boy on November 15 and handed him the maximum sentence.

Court papers said the defendant and the victim lived in the same neighbourhood.

The defendant decided to molest the boy and lured him to a deserted forest.

“The defendant sexually assaulted the child at gunpoint,” court transcripts said.

The minor returned home and informed his family of the incident and they alerted the authorities, the court documents added.

The victim’s family filed a complaint at the Family Protection Department, according to court papers.

The Criminal Court’s attorney general asked the higher court to uphold the sentence against the defendant “because the punishment he received was proper”.

The defence, meanwhile, asked the court to acquit his client because “the court relied on weak evidence”.

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

The Court of Cassation judges were Mohammad Ibrahim, Nayef Samarat, Hammad Ghzawi, Yassin Abdullat and Mohammad Khashashneh.