Two-year sentence upheld in molesting case

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a December 2019 Criminal Court ruling sentencing a man to a reduced sentence after convicting of sexually assaulting a man in Amman in November 2018.

The court initially handed the defendant a four-year prison term after convicting him of molesting a 33-year-old man in an empty apartment in Amman on Nov. 11.

However, the court decided to reduce the sentence to half because the victim dropped charges against the defendant.

Court papers said the defendant asked the victim to show him some empty apartments claiming he wanted to rent one.

 “The victim took him to an apartment but the minute they walked in, the defendant drew a knife and threatened the defendant with it,” court transcripts said.

The defendant "molested the victim and then left the apartment quickly," court papers said.

“The victim rushed to the Family Protection Unit to file a complaint and the defendant was arrested based on the DNA evidence collected from the victim's body and clothes,” court papers added.

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

The defence, meanwhile, asked the court to acquit his client because "the Criminal Court relied only on weak evidence when issuing the sentence".

The defence also argued that the victim provided contradictory testimonies in front of officials and therefore, "his testimony should be disregarded and my client should be declared innocent of the charges".

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

"The prosecution witnesses' testimonies and the scientific evidence submitted in this case are enough to implicate the defendant with the charges and he deserves the punishment he had received," the higher court ruled.

The Court of Cassation judges were Mohammad Ibrahim, Naji Zu’bi, Hammad Ghzawi, Yassin Abdullat and Saeed Mugheid.