Former police officer jailed for molesting woman

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a February Police Court ruling sentencing a former police officer to a reduced sentence after convicting him of molesting a woman in the street in July 2019.

The court declared the defendant guilty of molesting the woman who was walking on the street on July 4 and handed him a four-year prison term.

However, the Police Court decided to reduce the sentence to two years and eight months “because the victim dropped charges against the defendant and to give him a second chance in life since he is young and was already discharged from the police service”.

Court papers said the victim was walking on the street when she noticed a vehicle driving slowly next to her.

The defendant waved at the woman, but she refused to stop so he jumped from his vehicle and molested the woman, according to the court transcripts.

The victim screamed and spit on the defendant who rushed back to his vehicle and drove in the opposite direction, court papers added.

“The defendant crashed his vehicle into another parked car and he was arrested shortly afterwards,” court documents added.

The defendant had contested the ruling through his lawyer arguing that “the court relied only on the victim’s testimony when issuing the verdict”.

“The Police Court relied only on one testimony when issuing the verdict and did not consider some of the defence evidence that was presented by the lawyers,” the court papers said.

The lawyer argued that his client should have been charged with “indecent acts rather than being charged with molestation, which carries a higher punishment”.

However, the higher court rejected the defence argument and ruled that the Police Court followed the proper procedures when sentencing the defendant and he deserved the verdict he had received.

The Court of Cassation judges were Mohammad Ibrahim, Naji Zu’bi, Majid Azab, Yassin Abdullat and Maj. Mikhled Hamdan.