Cassation Court upholds seven-year sentence in minor’s sexual assault case

AMMAN — The Cassation Court upheld a May 2022 Criminal Court decision to increase the prison term of a man who engaged in consensual sexual activities with a minor in Amman in September 2021.

The Criminal Court handed the defendant a seven-year prison term after convicting him of engaging in sexual activities with a 17-year-old girl 26 times in September.

Court documents said the defendant and the victim developed a relationship via social media platforms a few months before the incident.

The two decided to meet alone in September, the court maintained.

“The defendant took the victim to the roof of his apartment where the two “engaged in consensual sexual activities,” according to court papers.

The two continued to meet at various places, the court added.

The matter was exposed in February 2022 when the victim decided to escape from her family’s home, the court added.

“The victim’s family filed a complaint that their daughter went missing and the couple was arrested shortly afterwards by police,” court papers said.

The defendant confessed to the repeated sexual encounters with the teenage girl, the court maintained.

The defendant did not contest the Criminal Court’s ruling at a higher court.

The Criminal Court’s attorney general asked the higher court to uphold the ruling.

The Cassation Court ruled that the Criminal Court’s judgement fell within the law, that the proceedings were proper, and that the sentence was satisfactory.

“The defendant confessed willingly to engaging in consensual sexual activities with the teenage girl and deserves the prison term as stipulated in the law,” the higher court ruled.

The Cassation Court tribunal comprised judges Mohammad Ibrahim, Majid Azab, Hayel Amr Fawzi Nahar and Mohammad Shreiri.