10 years in prison for man who sexually assaulted 9-year-old boy at mosque

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a March Criminal Court ruling sentencing a man to ten years in prison after convicting him of sexually assaulting a child in the bathroom of a mosque in August 2017 in one of the governorates.

The court declared the defendant guilty of sodomising the nine-year-old boy on August 20 and handed him an eight-year prison term.

However, the Criminal Court decided to increase the sentence by two years “because of the age of the victim and the fact that he committed his indecent act in a holy place”.

Court papers said the defendant met the victim following the conclusion of the prayers at the mosque and took him to the bathroom.

“The defendant undressed the boy and sexually assaulted him then allowed him to leave,” the court transcripts said.

The victim went home and informed his family who immediately alerted the authorities, the court transcripts added.

“The boy was immediately examined by law enforcement officials at the Family Protection Department and they took swabs and samples from his body for DNA analysis,” the court stated.

A criminal lab report indicated that the DNA samples taken from the child matched the suspect’s genetic profile, the court documents stated.

The Criminal Court said it relied in its ruling on DNA evidence that connected the defendant to the incident.

The higher court ruled that the Criminal Court followed the proper proceedings when sentencing the defendant and that he deserves the verdict he received. 

The Court of Cassation judges were Mohammad Ibrahim, Naji Zubi, Yassin Abdullat, Nayef Samarat and Hamad Ghzawi.