EXCLUSIVE: THE husband of a 14-year-old who was repeatedly raped after a forced marriage looks set to escape punishment.
Details of the case surfaced after the victim, who is now 25 years old, fought in October to have her arranged husband — a western Sydney drug gang member — banned from seeing their daughter.
The Federal Circuit Court heard how her husband stopped her from attending high school, or watching television, and wanted her to become a “soldier of Islam”, forcing her to watch DVDs of people being brutally slaughtered.
The man, who has a string of serious violence convictions, also subjected the victim to verbal abuse that is too vile to publish.
So appalling was her life of abuse, Judge Joseph Harman made an unprecedented public appeal in his judgment for authorities to act — an appeal that is believed to have been ignored.
“Upon publication of these reasons and should any agency wish to investigate matters …, they are in a position to make Application to the Court for leave to inspect the file and obtain material,” the judge said.
“That would include the Child Dispute Conference memo in which an admission is made by the father in the following terms: The father admitted that he knew at the time of the Islamic marriage to the mother that she was 14 years of age.
“He said he was 18 years of age.
“The mother said that the father was, at that time, 21 years of age. The mother alleged that the father had sexually assaulted her after they were married, which the father denied.”
The victim’s parents also look set to avoid any penalties for their involvement in the marriage.
When the victim complained to her parents about the rapes and violence, her father threatened to disown her.
“So what if he raped you? So what if he bashed you?” her father said, according to Federal Circuit Court documents.
“The only way you can come back to me is in a coffin to pray on you,” he added.
The victim also told a teacher at her high school about both her underage marriage and the abuse, but no action was taken.
The woman gave birth at the age of 17, and the father beat and abused their daughter.
He repeatedly told the child, who is now six, she would be married off to one of her cousins.
“The father has been a most heinous, capricious, and revolting misogynist,” Judge Harman said.
It is believed no authority has asked to inspect the file since Judge Harman’s appeal.
A link to the article can be found here.
Honour Based Violence Awareness Network (HBVA) is a Fuuse production.