Dealing With Incest Again

The Jordan Times today recounted two different cases of incest handled by the courts:

By Rana Husseini

AMMAN - The Criminal Court has sentenced a 20-year-old man to five years imprisonment for molesting his sister twice in February 2007.

The court convicted the defendant and handed him a 10-year prison term, but immediately decided to halve the sentence because his father dropped charges against him.

According to court documents, the defendant took his sister for a ride and parked the car in a deserted area and then molested her.

A police patrol in the area spotted the vehicle and arrested the young man, the court added.

The father dropped the charges. The police discovered the act. I wonder what life will be like for this sister now? I wonder if he dropped the charges against the brother in their home, and she is blamed? Will she ever marry? Will she carry the stigma and shame alone? Will anyone reach out to her and see she gets help?

In a second verdict, the Criminal Court placed a 20-year-old man under observation for three years after establishing that he was mentally unfit to be sent to prison on molestation charges.

The suspect, Mohammad T., was standing trial at the Criminal Court on charges of molesting his 13-year-old brother at a mosque on March 18 last year.

But when the court issued its verdict last month, it decided to send him to a government social centre for observation.

The court said it relied in its ruling on three government physicians, who testified that the defendant’s brain age is “equivalent to that of a five-year-old child”.

…Mohammad took his younger brother to the bathrooms of a mosque and sexually assaulted him by force, according to the court.

A worshipper at the mosque witnessed the incident and alerted the authorities, the court added.

I am grateful that a worshipper chose to report this crime, and not ignore it. I wonder if this brother had a habit of molesting others or had been a victim of abuse himself.  I wonder what life will be for this family now, and if the young man will receive any kind of help.

My friend’s son East Amman was mentally challenged, but at 13 years old, over six feet tall and strong. He also had the mental abilities of a five year old, and when he didn’t get his way, could be vicious. When he discovered his own sexuality, he regularly grabbed at his sister and his mother couldn’t leave him alone with her. I wonder what happened to them now.