Today's sentencing has been postponed in the case of a Bayonne man convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting his wife, whom he met for the first time at their wedding in Morocco in 2008.

Med Rabah, 30, faces up to 20 years in prison but is arguing for a new trial, Assistant Hudson County Prosecutor Matthew Troiano said.

The case

when The Jersey Journal reported that an appeals court had reversed a separate ruling by Hudson County Superior Court Judge Joseph Charles, who refused to give the wife a restraining even though he found "clear proof" the husband engaged in non-consensual sex with her in November 2008 and January 2009.

Charles, a former state assemblyman and state senator, said he did not feel the husband "had a criminal desire to or intent to sexually assault."

"He was operating under his belief that it is, as the husband, his desire to have sex when and whether he wanted to, was consistent with his practices and was something that was not prohibited," he ruled.

The appellate court's reversal said Charles was "mistaken" in his theory that the husband's personal belief system trumped state statutes against rape.

On Sept. 22, Rabah was convicted on the charges of criminal sexual contact, kidnapping, and two counts of sexual assault.

During the civil proceeding before Charles in Family Court, the wife said that on Nov. 16, 2008, her husband ordered her to strip naked and said, "Now we're going to start punishing you. Then he started to pinch my private areas." She said that while she cried, her husband proceeded to engage in non-consensual sex that was very painful to her.

The wife testified her husband said: "This is according to our religion. You are my wife, I can do anything to you." She testified that on Nov. 22, 2008, her husband repeatedly slapped her face until her lip bled.

Following the nightmare at the hands of her husband, the victim has lived at several women's shelters. She is also caring for the couple's 1-year-old child, Troiano said.

According to court papers, when the couple married in Morocco on July 31, 2008, the bride was 17 and the pair had never met. They moved to Bayonne a month later, the court record says.

Rabah's motion for a new trial is scheduled to be heard on Dec. 28. If not granted, sentencing will follow, Troiano said.

Rabah has a new lawyer, Troiano said. The prosecutor hasn't received papers on the new motion yet and doesn't know on what basis it is being made.