Man sentenced to 8 years for molesting 2 children

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a March Criminal Court ruling, sentencing a man to eight years in prison after convicting him of molesting two children in Russeifa in September 2021.

The defendant was convicted of sexually assaulting the two children, aged nine and 12, five times and was handed the maximum punishment. 

Court papers said the defendant and the victims knew each other because they lived in the same neighbourhood. 

“The defendant would lure each child to a deserted area on different occasions and would sexually assault them,” according to the court transcripts. 

The children eventually informed their family, who filed a complaint against the defendant at the Family Protection Department, the court added.  

The defendant contested the Criminal Court’s ruling through his lawyer and asked to be declared innocent, arguing that the “victims' testimony was contradictory”.

The lawyer also charged that his client was “coerced into confessing to a crime he did not commit”.

Meanwhile, the Criminal Court’s general attorney asked the higher court to uphold the verdict against the defendant.

The Court of Cassation ruled that the verdict was correct and the defendant deserved the ruling he had received. 

The Cassation Court comprised judges Mohammad Ibrahim, Majid Azab, Mohammad Khashashneh, Qassem Dughmi and Hammad Ghzawi.