Richard Noone
The Daily Telegraph
February 13, 2014
THE father of the 12-year-old girl at the centre of the Islamic marriage scandal appeared before a court yesterday charged with procuring his young daughter for sex.
Labor Green Loon's VOTE People :Sydney's Occupied Territories "..........hundreds of children as young as 11 were being sent overseas to be married after being “shopped” on Facebook."
The 61-year-old, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, “is of the belief he has done nothing wrong,” Raymond Terrace Local Court was told.
The court also heard the man had a disregard for NSW laws and believed his daughter was “in love” with her 26-year-old “husband”.
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Magistrate Caleb Franklin rejected the man’s bail application yesterday, citing a strong prosecution case and the likelihood of a jail term if he was convicted.
Police charged the father with procuring a child for unlawful sexual activity and being an accessory before the fact to someone having sexual intercourse with a child.
“The defendant has a disregard for the laws of this state,” Mr Franklin said in denying the man bail.
The man’s Legal Aid solicitor said her client, an osteoarthritis sufferer, would find time in custody “very difficult”.
The court heard the man had co-operated with detectives in interviews but disputed much of the police facts including the allegations he facilitated the marriage.
His solicitor said her client claimed his daughter was a “very, very mature strong-willed woman” and he thought the man was about 18-19.
“He said ‘they’re in love and it’s a strong love’ and at this point he’s trying to be supportive of his children,” she said.
Charge sheets tendered in court allege the girl’s father procured her for sexual activity with her future “husband” from when the couple met at a Hunter Valley mosque in November last year until they were allegedly married on January 12.
Outside court, it emerged the girl wrote on a blog site her father told her to wear a hijab to school when she was 11.
“When I was 11 my Dad made the decision I should wear hijab to school,” she wrote.
“To be honest I didn’t want to wear hijab to school. I was afraid of what all the other kids would say or think about me. But when I went to school the next day it wasn’t that bad.”
Charges against the girl’s father followed the alleged wedding of the man’s then 12-year-old daughter in their family living room to a 26-year-old Lebanese man last month.
The girl’s “husband” is in custody charged with 25 counts of having sexual intercourse with a child.
The imam who allegedly performed the ceremony, Riaz Tasawar, 35, was charged with solemnising a marriage without authority and will face court in April.
