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Father of 12-year-old Australian ‘bride’ arrested
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The father of a 12-year-old girl was arrested in Australia yesterday after allegedly marrying her off to a Muslim man 14 years her senior.
Child abuse detectives charged the 61-year-old with being an accessory before the fact of having sexual intercourse with a child and procuring a child under 14 years for unlawful sexual activity.
A Pakistan-born Muslim cleric was charged on Tuesday with conducting the illegal marriage and the “husband” — a Lebanese national — was arrested last week on 25 child sex offenses.
The father, reportedly an Australian who converted to Islam, was refused bail at court at Raymond Terrace, north of Sydney, while the 26-year-old Lebanese also remains in custody.
Magistrate Caled Franklin said it appeared that the father did not believe he had done anything wrong.
“Even if the allegations ... are proved, he believes there is nothing wrong with the behavior alleged,” said the magistrate, reported the Newcastle Herald.
The newspaper quoted a Legal Aid solicitor as saying the man denied the allegations against him and argued that his daughter was “a very, very mature and strong-willed young woman.”
“He says they are in love and it is a very strong love,” the solicitor added.
While child marriages remain prevalent in parts of the world, in Australia 18 is the minimum age to tie the knot and the case has sparked debate about how widespread the problem is.
An investigation by the Sydney Daily Telegraph published yesterday said there was an “epidemic” of child brides with hundreds of underage teenagers in unregistered “marriages” in New South Wales alone.
The state’s Community Services Minister Pru Goward last week said anecdotal evidence suggested forced marriages between children and adults was an ongoing issue, particularly in Sydney.
“I understand there are actually a significant number of unlawful, unregistered marriages to underage girls in NSW, particularly in western Sydney, southwest Sydney and the Blue Mountains.”
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