Foreign national jailed for 4 years for molesting woman

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a June Criminal Court ruling, sentencing an Egyptian national to four years in prison after convicting him of molesting a woman in Amman in April 2020.

The court declared the defendant guilty of molestation charges and handed him the maximum sentence of four years.

Court papers said the 27-year-old victim was walking in the street in the Abu Nuseir neighbourhood when the defendant approached her.

“The defendant grabbed the victim’s private parts all of a sudden and when she felt his hands on her body she was shocked and ran away,” according to the court transcripts.

The victim immediately informed her family members who reported the incident to the police, according to the court papers.

The following day, the court maintained, the victim was walking in the same street when she spotted the defendant following her.

“The victim called her siblings who rushed to the street and they held him until the police came and arrested him,” according to the court papers.

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 of Cassation was headed by Judge Mohammad Ibrahim and included judges Yassin Abdullat, Hammad Ghzawi, Mohammad Khashashneh and Nayef Samarat.