Jordan- Repeat offenders sent to prison for child molestation 

(MENAFN - Jordan Times) The Criminal Court has sentenced two men with prior records of molestation to prison terms for sexually assaulting two children in one of the Kingdom's governorates in August 2009.

The tribunal found J.K., a 33-year-old construction worker, guilty of molesting two children, both under 15, on August 10, 2009 and handed him a seven-year prison term.

The court then decided, however, to increase the sentence to 10 years and four months because J.K. had been convicted of the same crime several years ago.

The court also sentenced I.R., 40, who is at large, to nine years and four months after convicting him on the same charges. The court had originally sentenced him to seven years in prison but again increased the sentence because he was a repeat offender.

The mother of one of the victims dropped charges against the defendants but the court refused to reduce the charges because both defendants had been convicted of molestation previously.

Court papers said that the two men had abducted a 14-year-old boy at knifepoint and taken him to an empty schoolyard, where they undressed him and tried to molest him, but the child ran away.

The two men then snatched another boy, aged 13, and attempted to repeat the same scenario, but he also escaped.

The two children notified their families, who filed complaints against the perpetrators.

The tribunal comprised judges Fawzi Nahar, Hazem Saeed and Hussein Tharaghbeh.

The Cassation Court has begun reviewing the verdicts, which were issued in late April.