Two men get 5-year jail terms for molesting, robbing teenage boy

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a May Criminal Court ruling sentencing two men to over five years in prison after convicting them of molesting and robbing a Syrian teenager in one of the Kingdom’s governorates in May.

The court also declared the defendants guilty of impersonating officials and handed each of them five years and four months in prison.

Court papers said that the 15-year-old victim was returning home in Jerash Governorate on May 10 when he was stopped by the two defendants who claimed to be personnel from the Anti-Narcotics Department.

“The defendants searched the boy and, when they walked away, he discovered that they stole his mobile and wallet,” according to court documents.

The teenager followed the two men demanding his mobile phone and wallet, but the “two grabbed him and dragged him to a deserted area where they beat him up, undressed the boy then molested him”, according to court transcripts.

The victim returned home and informed his family who alerted the authorities, the court transcripts said.

The defendants had contested the Criminal Court ruling arguing through their lawyer that “the prosecutor failed to provide solid evidence to implicate his clients and that the court depended on witnesses’ contradictory statements.”

However, the Court of Cassation ruled that the Criminal Court proceedings were correct and the defendant deserved the punishment he received.

The higher court comprised of judges Mohammad Ibrahim, Naji Zubi, Yassin Abdullat, Majed Azab and Nayef Samarat