Thread: Dad arranged marriage for daughter, 12, with older man to stop her from premarital se

Dad arranged marriage for daughter, 12, with older man to stop her from premarital sex: reports

BY NICOLE HENSLEY
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Wednesday, April 1, 2015, 6:50 PM

SKY NEWS

A father who arranged a marriage for his 12-year-old daughter to save her from the sin of premarital sex has been found guilty of child abuse.

An Australian father convicted of child abuse had arranged an Islamic marriage last year for his 12-year-old daughter to an older man to stop her from sinning, local reports said.

Fearing his daughter would soon become sexually active, he arranged a marriage with a then-26-year-old man, who had sex with his daughter four times at a hotel and the father's home, according to Sky News.

He believed his daughter was old enough to make decisions about marriage.

"It was stopping a sin," the father, who is not identified because his underaged daughter is the victim of a sexual assault, told investigators. "It was something I had to do."

He also coerced his daughter into not using contraceptive pills claiming it caused breast cancer.

The judge believed the father's testimony and "wasn't credible" because he knew it was against his religion. He will be sentenced on May 29, Sky News reported.

The husband is not identified either and apparently tried to protect his new father-in-law.

Their wedding ceremony was witnessed by the girl's siblings and a sheik.

nhensley@nydailynews.com
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/worl...icle-1.2170348

Child bride's dad was 'stopping a sin'

Updated: 7:29 pm, Wednesday, 1 April 2015

A NSW father who arranged a marriage for his 12-year-old daughter to save her from the sin of premarital sex has been found guilty of child abuse.

The father has been on trial in the Sydney District Court after his daughter and a man, then 26, married in an Islamic ceremony at his home last January.

He was found guilty on Wednesday of procuring a child aged under 14 for unlawful sexual activity and being an accessory before the fact to a serious indictable offence.

On the night of the wedding, the 'married' pair went to a hotel with the father's permission, Judge Deborah Sweeney said as she handed down her judgment.

They had sex there and twice more at the father's home the following weekend.

'He made up a room and bed ... for them knowing they would have sexual intercourse,' Judge Sweeney said.

The next morning he asked the girl if she needed a shower before prayers, in line with Islamic practice after sexual intercourse.
But the father said he asked his daughter because she could have been menstruating.

He also told her on the night of her wedding not to use pills or condoms.

During the trial, he said this was due to concerns contraceptive pills caused breast cancer but Judge Sweeney said it was because he knew contraception was against the religious teachings they followed.

After hearing evidence from the 'husband' and the sheik who 'married' the pair, Judge Sweeney found the father had consented to the wedding.

'He said that (his daughter) would be sexually active and needed to be married,' she said.

The father arranged for them to meet, approved an exchange of phone numbers, hosted the wedding, allowed his daughter to go with the man to a hotel on the night of her wedding and later move in with him.

He did so after noticing his daughter's changing behaviour around males.

'I was stopping a sin,' he later told police. 'It was something I had to do.'

During his judge-alone trial the father said he was opposed to the wedding but finally gave approval because it was what the girl wanted, he couldn't stop her and was worried he would otherwise lose her.

A sheik and three witnesses were brought to his home and his daughter was married in front of her siblings.

The father believed she was old enough to make decisions about marriage as it was what the 'creator' said.

'If Allah says that she can get married when something happens then I agree with that,' he said.

'I agree with everything our creator says.'

Judge Sweeney said the 'husband' wasn't truthful in parts of his evidence and was trying to protect the man he considered his father-in-law.

The father, she said, wasn't credible.

He remains on bail and will be sentenced on May 29.


- See more at: http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-s....7New8T98.dpuf