Jail call for Melbourne child bride hubby

Prosecutors have argued for a jail term for a man who married a child bride in Melbourne.

A man should be jailed for marrying a child bride, some 20 years his junior, during an Islamic ceremony in Melbourne, a prosecutor says.

Mohammad Shakir faces one count of going through a formal ceremony of marriage with a person not of marriageable age, at suburban Noble Park in September.

Prosecutor Krista Breckweg told the Victorian County Court during a brief hearing on Monday that Shakir, who has been in custody since his arrest in 2016, should be sent to prison.

The court was also told of conflicting evidence about the age of the bride.

Ms Breckweg said various records from immigration, government and school sources put the girl's age at 14 but her mother maintained she was 17.

Evidence including a video of the wedding ceremony will be aired during a one-day plea hearing on September 1.

Former Muslim cleric Ibrahim Omerdic, who married off the girl to 34-year-old Shakir, was spared jail last month after being found guilty of unlawfully solemnising the marriage.

Omerdic was sentenced to two months' prison, but immediately placed on a two-year recognisance release order, meaning he won't serve time in jail.

He was an imam of the Bosnian Islamic Society and Noble Park Mosque but was later sacked and had his celebrant licence revoked after his arrest.

Video footage of the ceremony was previously played in court, showing Omerdic telling the girl it was her "duty to obey" her husband.

The case against Shakir is due to be mentioned briefly again on Friday.


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Source: AAP



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