Lebanese Student Pleads Guilty to Sexual Abuse of Child Bride in Australia

A 27-year-old Lebanese student accused of marrying and having a sexual relationship with a 12-year-old girl in Australia has pleaded guilty to the crime, Australian dailies reported Thursday.

The man, who was not named, was visiting Australia on a student visa when he married the girl during an Islamic ceremony in the Hunter Valley in the state of New South Wales in January, they aid.

Court documents say that after the ceremony, he repeatedly sexually abused the girl until he was arrested earlier this year.

The documents also say that the Hunter Valley girl met the man at a mosque last year after he approached her father and asked to talk to her.

The father, who is in his 60s, later allegedly arranged the illegal marriage because he wanted to stop her from “committing a life of sin.”

He has been charged with procuring a child under 14 for unlawful sexual activities, and being an accessory to sexual intercourse with a person under 14.

The imam, who performed the ceremony, pleaded guilty in April to solemnizing the marriage and was fined $500 before being deported to Pakistan.

The husband has had his student visa canceled and is now living in an immigration detention center.

He will later go to the District Court for sentencing. He faces 25 years in jail.

G.K.

H.K.