Man handed 5-year prison term for molesting minor

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a September Criminal Court ruling, sentencing a man to five years in prison after convicting him of molesting a minor in Amman in January.

The court declared the defendant guilty of sexually assaulting the 14-year-old girl on several occasions in January in Amman and handed him the maximum sentence.

Court papers said the defendant and the victim lived in the same neighbourhood.

The defendant and the victim established a relationship and started seeing each other.

"The defendant sexually assaulted the child on several occasions at his family’s home and in a vehicle that belongs to his friends," court transcripts said.

The sexual assault incidents were exposed when the victim became pregnant, the court documents added.

The victim's family filed a complaint at the Family Protection Department, according to court papers.

The Criminal Court’s attorney general asked the higher court to uphold the sentence against the defendant "because the punishment he received was proper".

The defence, meanwhile, asked the court to acquit his client because "the court relied on weak evidence".

The higher court ruled that the Criminal Court proceedings were accurate and that the defendant was given the appropriate punishment.

It was proven to the court that the defendant confessed willingly to engaging in sexual activities with the minor and therefore deserves the punishment he had received, the higher court ruled.

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