Court upholds prison sentence in rape case

AMMAN — The Cassation Court has upheld a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence for an Egyptian guard who was convicted of raping a Filipina domestic helper in February.

The Criminal Court initially sentenced the defendant to 15 years in prison for raping the 42-year-old domestic helper.

However, the court decided to reduce the sentence to half because the victim dropped the charges against the defendant.

Court papers said the defendant, who worked as a guard in the building where the victim worked as a domestic helper, went to the apartment after her employers left.

“The defendant rang the doorbell, and when the victim opened the door, he forced his way in, locked the door, pinned the woman to the floor and raped her, then left,” the six-page verdict said.

The victim, who suffered from bleeding, “immediately called her employers, who rushed her to hospital and the defendant was arrested”, according to the court document.

The defendant contested the Criminal Court ruling arguing that the court depended only on the victim’s testimony and there was no physical evidence supporting it.

Meanwhile, the Criminal Court general attorney asked the higher court to uphold the ruling “because the Criminal Court followed the proper legal channels”.

The Criminal Court said it relied on DNA evidence that linked the suspect to the rape incident and testimonies of government physicians who confirmed that the victim was raped and suffered from bleeding at the time of the attack.

The Cassation Court said that “the Criminal Court ruling was sufficient and the defendant got what he deserved for his actions”.

The Cassation Court, which issued the verdict recently, comprised justices Mahmoud Ababneh, Basel Abu Anzeh, Mohammad Ibrahim, Yassin Abdullat and Bassem Mubeidin.