Man receives 15-year jail term for affair with minor

AMMAN — The Cassation Court has upheld a February Criminal Court decision sentencing a man to 15 years in prison for having consensual sexual relations with a minor in 2017.

The Criminal Court handed the defendant the maximum sentence after convicting him of engaging in sexual activities with a 15-year-old girl in July of 2017.

Court documents said the defendant and the victim had established a relationship over the phone.

On July 17, the court maintained, the defendant and the victim met in the backyard of a house where they engaged in sexual activities.

“Their sexual encounters were repeated and the matter was exposed when the victim became pregnant,” court documents said.

The defendant had contested the Criminal Court ruling charging that “there were contradictory statements provided by the victim”.

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 paternity test indicated that the defendant and the victim are the biological parents of the boy who was delivered following the incident,” the higher court ruled.

The Cassation Court tribunal comprised judges Mohammad Ibrahim, Yassin Abdullat, Nayef Samarat, Naji Zu’bi and Nayef Samarat.