KUWAIT CITY, May 12:  The Criminal Court, presided over by Judge Ahmad Al-Yaseen, sentenced a man to 10 years in jail for raping a teenage girl and entering her house, while it acquitted the siblings of the victim of assault and immoral offense against the accused.

Case files indicate that the accused used to frequent the house of his friends during which he had his way with the victim and molested her.  The victim told investigators she never reported the incident because the accused threatened to post her pictures on the Internet and harm her family.

According to police investigations, the victim had a relationship with the accused for almost a year and the accused was a friend of the victim’s siblings until he took the mobile phone of the victim and demanded KD100 from her in exchange for the phone.

The victim told her siblings about the issue, so the accused went to the victim’s house after being promised that he will be given the cash in exchange for the phone.  When he arrived at the house, the siblings appeared and assaulted him, where as the accused claimed that the siblings of the victim offended him immorally.

Lawyer for the victim’s siblings, Attorney Enaam Haydar, pointed out in court the lack of substantial evidence against her clients considering the accused did not sustain injuries or psychological damage.  She said her clients denied the charges leveled against them from the beginning of investigations.

Hearing adjourned: The Court of Appeals, headed by Judge Abdulrahman Al-Daremi, adjourned until May 18, 2016 the hearing on the State Security case (Abdally Cell) filed against two citizens who were accused of spying in favor of Iran and Hezbollah.

Attorney Ali Al-Asfour, lawyer for the two citizens, attended the court session, during which pointed out the faulty arrest procedures as the action was based on the inconclusive results of investigations carried out by the arresting officer.  He also told the court that his clients made the confession under pressure from the prosecution and State security officers, backing his argument with the medical reports of the accused.

The lawyer added his clients denied the accusation while there is no incriminating evidence against them as they did not receive money.  He said there is no proof of the phone calls or messages showing that they were into espionage operations.  He urged the court to acquit his clients due to the faulty arrest procedures and absence of incriminating evidence.

Ruling overturned: The Court of Appeals overturned the verdict of a lower court which sentenced an unidentified person to seven years in jail in absentia with hard labor to be followed by deportation and fine of 4,200,000 Saudi riyals for money laundering amounting to 8,400,000 Saudi riyals (KD700,000).

Case files indicate the accused transferred the money from Saudi Arabia to Kuwait where he invested some of the amount in real estate with the intention of hiding the source of the money which he stole from a company in the Saudi Arabia.

In his defense was Attorney Muhammad Al-Khaled who argued in court that there is no substantial proof that his client stole the money or attempted to launder money, indicating someone else was convicted in Saudi Arabia.

Al-Khaled also faulted the investigation process as it depended on the statements made by the company (victim) and no serious investigation was conducted to verify the allegations.  He added the investigation did not lead to recovery of the money or identification of its location, while there is no evidence that the money was in the possession of the accused.

Blogger jailed: The Misdemeanor Court sentenced a Twitter user to two months in jail and fined him KD5,001 for offending lawyers through his posts on Twitter.

Attorney Saleh Hussein Al-Ajmi filed the case on behalf of a group of lawyers who accused the Twitter user of insulting and defaming them through his tweets.

By Jaber Al-Hamoud

Al-Seyassah Staff