Court upholds five-year molestation sentence

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a November Criminal Court ruling sentencing a man to five years in prison after convicting him of molesting a married minor in Jerash in June.

The court declared the defendant guilty of molesting a 17-year-old minor on several occasions in June and handed him the maximum sentence.

Court papers said the victim and the defendant met via Facebook and started corresponding regularly via social media and phone calls.

“The victim sent the defendant four photos of her with her underwear on,” according to the court transcripts.

The victim then met with the defendant in a wooded area in Jerash where “he molested her”.

“The defendant then asked the victim for money and threatened to send her indecent photos to her husband if she refused,” court papers added.

The victim refused and informed her husband who filed a complaint at a police station.

The defendant had contested the ruling through his lawyer arguing that there were “errors in the investigation and trial procedures”.

However, the higher court rejected the defendant’s argument and ruled that the Criminal Court followed the proper procedures when sentencing the defendant and that he deserved the verdict he received.

The Court of Cassation judges were Mohammad Ibrahim, Naji Zu’bi, Hamad Ghzawi, Yassin Abdullat and Saedd Mugheid.