Man gets jail term for sexually assaulting boy

AMMAN — The Cassation Court has upheld a January Criminal Court decision sentencing a man to eight years in prison for sexually assaulting a boy in May 2018.

The Criminal Court handed the defendant the maximum sentence after convicting him of molesting a nine-year-old boy at an aluminium shop he worked at in mid-May and handed him the maximum punishment.

Court documents said the victim was playing hide-and-seek in the street with his brother.

“The defendant saw the boys playing and decided to molest the victim, so he invited him to the shop to hide from his brother,” court papers said.

The defendant asked the child to hide behind a table and came from behind him and molested him, according to court papers.

“The victim rushed from the shop and immediately notified his family who alerted the authorities,” according to court transcripts.

The defendant had contested the Criminal Court ruling, asking to be declared innocent, claiming that “the court did not rely on solid evidence”.

However, the Cassation Court ruled that the Criminal Court’s judgement fell within the law, that the proceedings were proper and that the sentence given was satisfactory.

The Cassation Court tribunal comprised judges Mohammad Ibrahim, Yassin Abdullat, Saeed Mugheid, Naji Zu’bi and Bassem Mubeidin.