Man sentenced to 5 years in prison for molesting minor girl

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld an April Criminal Court ruling, sentencing a man to five years in prison after convicting him of molesting a minor in Ruseifa in August 2020.

The court declared the defendant guilty of sexually assaulting the 14-year-old girl on August 3 and handed him the maximum sentence.

Court papers said the defendant and the victim met via a social media platform and started communicating together.

"The defendant invited the teenage girl to an empty apartment where he molested her," court transcripts said.

In the meantime, the victim’s family was able to trace their daughter and found the couple in the apartment, the court documents added.

The family immediately alerted the authorities and the defendant was referred to the Family Protection Department for questioning, 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 higher court ruled that the Criminal Court proceedings were accurate and that the defendant was given the appropriate punishment.

The Court of Cassation judges were Mohammad Ibrahim, Fawzi Nahar, Mohammad Khashashneh, Yassin Abdullat and Nayef Samarat.