Five-year jail term for man who molested 13-year-old girl

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld an April Criminal Court ruling sentencing a man to five years in prison for molesting a teenager in one of the Kingdom’s governorates last November.

The defendant was convicted of molesting a 13-year-old girl on November 22 and he was handed the maximum punishment. 

Court papers said the defendant and the victim established a relationship three months before the incident.

On the day of the incident, the defendant and the victim met in a secluded area “where the defendant touched her private parts and sexually assaulted the child who did not resist”, court documents said, adding: "The victim informed the defendant that her family were suspecting that something was wrong so he asked her to travel to Aqaba and meet him near the beach.”

The defendant did not “show up for the rendezvous and the girl was picked up by the police and the matter was exposed”, the court added.

The defendant contested the Criminal Court’s ruling, asking to be declared innocent and arguing that the “victim was the only witness in the case and her testimony was contradictory”.

However, the Cassation Court ruled that the verdict was correct and the defendant deserved the verdict he received.
The Cassation Court comprised judges Yassin Abdullat, Mohammad Tarawneh, Naji Zubi, Saeed Mugheid and Hammad Ghzawi.