Man jailed for 7 years for sexually assaulting minor girl

AMMAN — The Cassation Court has upheld a March Criminal Court ruling sentencing a man to seven years in prison after convicting him of sexually assaulting a minor in Karak in June 2020.

The Criminal Court handed the defendant a seven-year prison term after convicting him of engaging in sexual activities with a 15-year-old girl.

Court documents said the defendant and the victim met two months before the incident was exposed and developed a relationship.

“The two started communicating via social media and the defendant convinced the victim to engage in sexual activities with him because he planned to marry her,” the court documents maintained.

The victim believed him and ran away from her family’s home on June 27, court papers said.

“The victim stayed with defendant at his home where the two engaged in consensual sexual activities for several days,” according to the court papers.

The defendant received a call from one of his friends that her family had filed a complaint about their daughter and she ended up “turning herself in to the Family Protection Department”, court papers said.

The defendant had contested the Criminal Court ruling claiming that the “victim gave contradictory statements regarding the incident”.

The defence lawyer also charged that the Criminal Court prosecutor failed to “provide solid evidence to convict my client”.

Meanwhile, the Criminal Court’s general attorney had asked the higher court to uphold the seven-year sentence ruling stating that the court had abided by the proper legal procedures when sentencing the defendant.

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

“The defendant confessed in front of the police and the Criminal Court prosecutor to the sexual incident. Therefore, he deserves the punishment he had received,” the higher court ruled.

The Cassation Court tribunal comprised judges Mohammad Ibrahim, Mohammad Khashashneh, Hammad Ghzawi, Yassin Abdullat and Nayef Samarat.