Sex charges for man who ‘married’ Hunter 12-year-old

By EMMA PARTRIDGE

Feb. 7, 2014, 10:55 p.m.

A UNIVERSITY of Newcastle student had only been in Australia for a matter of weeks when he laid his eyes on his future wife.

He did not seem to mind she was only 12 years old.

The 26-year-old from the Middle East stepped off a plane in Sydney last August with a student visa and the intention of furthering his education in Newcastle.

At a Hunter mosque, he met a 12-year-old girl whom he would later marry during an Islamic ceremony.

Police allege the accused took primary care of the girl and moved with her to a home in Sydney’s south-west.

In this home, he is accused of having sexual intercourse with the girl between January 1 and February 4. He told police he had married the girl and does not believe he has done anything wrong.

Commander of the Child Abuse Squad, Detective Inspector Peter Yeomans, said it was hard to believe a girl at “an obviously very tender age” was at the centre of the allegations. He said “you have to take religion and culture out if it’’.

“In the end it is a 12-year-old child [and] no matter how we look at it ... he has been charged with numerous counts of sexual assault,” he said. “I was astonished in relation to the background of the information.”

Fairfax Media understands the accused tried to enrol the alleged victim at a school but was not able to without legal guardianship.

It is believed he went to Centrelink in order to become the girl’s legal guardian but a government worker reported his application to NSW Police
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On Thursday, child abuse squad detectives arrested the 26-year-old and took him to Auburn Police Station.

He was charged with 25 counts of sexual intercourse with a child aged between 10 and 14. By the time of his arrest, his alleged child bride had turned 13.

The girl was taken into the protection of Family and Community Services, where she will remain until a permanent home is found for her. She has been medically examined and received counselling.

It is not clear if her parents were aware of the union.

At Sydney’s Burwood Local Court yesterday, the man sat silently and listened to the proceedings with the help of an interpreter.

Bail was not applied for but magistrate Christopher Longley formally refused it. The accused’s lawyer said his client wished to make an application for bail on Wednesday.

Family and Community Services Minister Pru Goward said she was ‘‘horrified’’ by allegations in the case.

‘‘Whatever the cultural practice, whatever the religious practice, there is no law in Australia above Australian law,” she said. ‘‘In this country, little girls have rights and in particular they have the right to a childhood free of this sort of [alleged] abuse.
‘‘That is what we are here as a community to uphold.’’

Ms Goward said there was a large number of unlawful NSW ‘‘marriages’’ to under-age girls, particularly in western Sydney and the Blue Mountains.

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/20...ear-old/?cs=12