BIRMINGHAM – A mother has been convicted of duping her teenage daughter to go to Pakistan and forcing her to marry, in the first successful prosecution of its type.
The woman was found guilty following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court, where a jury heard how the victim had sobbed as she was married to a male relative 16 years her senior.
Years earlier, the man had taken the girl’s virginity after a marriage contract was entered into against the girl’s will.
The then 13-year-old girl had to undergo an abortion on returning to the UK, with her GP reporting his concerns to social services.
It is the first time a forced marriage case of this kind has been successfully prosecuted in a criminal court in England, with the mother convicted of actively deceiving the girl in order to convince her to travel.
Jurors heard how as the girl had approached her 18th birthday, she was tricked by her mother into going to Pakistan on what she believed was a family holiday.
The mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons to protect the identity of the victim, was convicted of deceiving the victim to go to Pakistan, in order to enter into a false marriage, forced marriage and perjury, after she later lied about the incident in the High Court.
Giving evidence during the trial, the girl told how wedding preparations went ahead despite her objections.
The couple were then married in September 2016, after she had celebrated her 18th birthday.
The teenager had described how she was taken to get ready for the ceremony, and there an imam gave her papers to sign and asked if she wanted to get married.
The victim – under pressure from her mother – had to say ‘I do’ or ‘I accept’ three times, before signing.
Jurors heard the complainant recall how she cried to her mother, who continued leading her by the arm to meet her husband-to-be, and then put on her ring.
She said: ‘I didn’t want to get married to him.’
The girl was returned to the UK with the assistance of the Home Office, with police and social workers informed what had happened, leading to her mother’s arrest in January last year.
