Man gets 3-year prison term molesting teenage girl

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a February Criminal Court ruling, sentencing a man to three years in prison after convicting him of filming indecent videos and photos of a teenage girl in June 2019.

The court declared the defendant guilty of molestation charges based on a video clip he took of the 17-year-old girl while at his shop in June 12 and handed him the maximum sentence.

Court papers said the victim met the defendant after visiting his shop to buy some accessories three months before the incident.

The two exchanged numbers and started chatting on Messenger application, according to court transcripts.

“The defendant convinced the woman to undress from the top and filmed her,” according to the court transcripts.

The two repeated the same incident on several occasions until the victim’s father saw the interaction between the two on his daughter’s phone, according to court papers.

The victim’s father filed a complaint at the Cyber Crime Unit (CCU) and the defendant was arrested, the court added.

An expert from the CCU examined the victim and the defendant’s mobile phones and “found 62 images and videos belonging to the victim,” court papers added.

The defendant appealed his verdict through his lawyer claiming that the prosecution failed to provide any solid evidence to implicate him.

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 relied on the expert testimony which confirmed that the defendant took several shots of the victim while half-naked,” the higher court ruled.

The Court of Cassation was headed by Judge Mohammad Ibrahim and included eight judges.