Eight-year jail term upheld for child molester

AMMAN  — The Court of Cassation has upheld a January 2017 Criminal Court ruling sentencing a man to eight years in prison after convicting him of molesting three children at a shop in Amman in July 2016.

The court declared the defendant guilty of molesting the three children, aged 8 and 9, on July 11 while at his shop, and handed him the maximum punishment. 

Court papers said the victims went to the defendant’s shop, which sold Playstation for children.

“The defendant offered the boys to play the game for free, and then took each boy to a separate room where he molested them,” court documents said.

The children returned to their families and informed them of the incident, the court added.

When the case was disclosed, investigators discovered that two of the three boys had been molested by the defendant in previous months, the court added.

The defendant had contested the Criminal Court ruling charging that there was “no solid evidence to implicate him and that the court depended on children’s testimonies, which should not be admissible in court”.

 However, the higher court ruled that the verdict was accurate and the defendant deserved the punishment he received. 

The Court of Cassation tribunal comprised judges Yassin Abullat, Mohammad Ersheidat, Mohammad Tarawneh, Daoud Tubeleh and Bassem Mubeidin.