Supreme Court upholds 15-year sentence for child molester

The Supreme Court has affirmed a 15-year jail sentence for a man convicted of sexually assaulting a child in a position of trust.

This final ruling upholds previous decisions by both the Criminal Court and the High Court.

The case involves a man from an island in central Maldives who committed the abuse in 2019. The Criminal Court initially convicted and sentenced him to 15 years in prison in October 2021, under the Special Procedures Against Child Sexual Offenders Act. At the time of his sentencing, the man had already been in custody for two years.

Following the Criminal Court's verdict, the man appealed to the High Court. However, a bench comprising Justices Hussain Shaheed, Hussain Mazeed, and Fathimath Farheeza unanimously upheld the original conviction.

Undeterred, the man then lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court. On October 1, the Supreme Court, with a bench of Justices Aisha Shujoon, Abdullah Hameed, and Mohamed Saleem, also ruled against him, definitively upholding the 15-year sentence.