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Vic child bride told to 'obey husband'

Mobile phone video footage of a wedding between a 34-year-old man and an underage girl at a Melbourne mosque has been shown in court.

Video showing the wedding of a 34-year-old man and an underage girl has been screened in a Melbourne court.

Police seized from the mobile phone of the girl's "husband" footage in which Muslim cleric Ibrahim Omerdic can be heard telling the girl it was her duty to obey her husband.

"She's very young," he can be heard telling the child's mother and her betrothed.

Omerdic is fighting claims he solemnised or intended to solemnise the pair's marriage, which was not subsequently formalised under Australian law.

"As a wife, you have a a duty to obey your husband," he tells the girl in the video.

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"If (your husband) is happy with something, do it. If (your husband) is not happy with something, don't do it."

Omerdic was an imam of the Bosnian Islamic Society and Noble Park Mosque, but was sacked after being arrested in November and his marriage celebrant licence was revoked.

Police executed a search warrant of Omerdic's office at Noble Park, finding wedding materials, ceremonial garb, wedding readings and certificates.

The Certificate of Islamic Marriage also contained a disclaimer stating the document could not validate a marriage by Australian law.

Omerdic told police he did not consider the two officially married as he had not seen their ID and proof of age.

He said he thought she was about 17.

The court also heard that a $1480 gold necklace was given by the groom to the girl as a dowry.

During a recorded interview played in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, Omerdic tells police the "husband" had approached him saying: "There is a girl, I love her. I have to be with her."

The hearing continues.


2 min read

Published

Source: AAP



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