The NSW Child Abuse Squad has charged a 19-year-old man with ‘having sexual intercourse with a child aged between 14 and 16’, after he allegedly married and had sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was aged 18.
This is the first time that the Squad has charged a person after a child marriage.
The ceremony was allegedly overseen by a sheikh, and the couple then moved into a granny flat at the parents’ home.
The girl stopped attending school shortly after the marriage.
The girl’s parents had little contact with her after the wedding, and did not even know where she had been living for several months.
Police believe that her new husband influenced the 15-year-old to cut ties with her family.
While it appears that the father of the bride was at the ceremony, the mother was not.
She was reportedly horrified when she found out that her daughter had been married, and confronted the couple about it.
It is alleged that the 18-year-old husband then threatened to “finish” his wife if the mother interfered.
Police also allege that he beat his 15-year-old wife.
They further allege that the husband grew concerned that the matter might be reported to police, so he started to move the young bride’s belongings from the granny flat into the main house to remove any evidence of the union.
The young husband denies that a marriage ever took place, and he also denies ever having sex with the 15-year-old.
He was arrested by police who refused to grant him bail at the police station.
He was then brought before Bankstown Local Court, where the Magistrate granted him bail under the new bail act, but imposed strict conditions, including that:
- He is not allowed near his wife;
- He must not drink alcohol or take drugs; and
- He must obey the Apprehended Domestic Violence Order that was taken out against him.
Is child marriage widespread?
This is not the first time a child has been married in Australia, but child marriages are often hard to detect and prosecute.
The present case was only detected after the 15-year-old took herself to hospital suffering from a suspected miscarriage.
It is estimated that 14 million girls are forced into marriage every year worldwide.
The concerning practice spans across a wide range of countries and cultures, from the Middle East, to the Subcontinent, to Mormon and Amish communities in America.
But only a handful of cases ever end up being prosecuted.
Child marriage is an accepted practice in some communities, and is often overlooked by authorities in places where it is illegal.
Another Australian case
Last year, arrests were made in NSW after a 12 year old girl was married off to a 26 year old man in NSW.
This was the first time that anyone has been arrested in Australia in relation to the marriage of a child bride.
The Muslim cleric who officiated the ceremony was fined and deported.
The girl, who has since turned 13, has been placed in the care of the Department of Family and Community Services together with her younger sister.
But not all weddings take place on home soil – Australian girls may be taken overseas and married there.
The Immigrant Women’s Health Service received a tip-off late last year about a nine year old girl who, it is suspected, was taken overseas to be married.
Current strategies for combating child marriages in Australia do not seem to be working – as many girls are unwilling or just too scared to implicate their families.
This article contains an error. Mormons do not participate in, condone nor do they promote underage marriages. Please remove Mormons from the groups listed above.
Thank you.
The law must be enforced against any law barker it does not make any deferent of which community they from.
However it appears to me that only Muslims been charged for such offences behaviour.
I know too many Osie girls been raped by their parents booth men and women, and raped by far older then the girls, why this Moslem man who is about the same age is the girl been charged, that is racism.