Man handed five-year sentence for molesting teenager

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a May Criminal Court ruling sentencing a man to five years in prison after convicting him of molesting a teenage girl in Irbid in December 2017.

The court declared the defendant guilty of sexually assaulting the 14-year-old girl on December 27 in Irbid city and handed him the maximum sentence.

Court papers said the defendant met the victim via Facebook Messenger and they formed a relationship.

The defendant arranged to meet with the victim after she finished an exam at school, court transcripts said.

"The defendant took the girl to an alley where he engaged in sexual activities with her," court papers read.

 The victim informed her family about the incident three days later and they 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 defendant was subjected to torture and duress in order to confess to something that he did not commit".

The defence also charged that "the victim's family made up the story to blackmail him and make some financial gains".

"The Criminal Court relied only on the defendant's confession and disregarded his repeated demands to be sent to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine to obtain a report that would support his argument that he was subjected to torture," the defence argued.

The lawyer maintained that the Criminal Court had relied on "weak and unreliable evidence" when convicting the defendant.

 "The criminal court's prosecution office failed to provide any scientific evidence that would link my client to the alleged sexual assault," the defence charged. 

However, 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 received," the higher court ruled.

The Court of Cassation judges were Mohammad Ibrahim, Majid Azab, Bassem Mubeidin, Yassin Abdullat and Saeed Mugheid.