A man accused of marrying off his 12-year-old daughter has asked a court to soften his bail conditions so he can attend to his religious commitments.

The 62-year-old Muslim convert, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused of setting up the Islamic religious ceremony between his young daughter and a 26-year-old Lebanese student in his Hunter Valley living room in January.

The father-of-seven was given bail in June under the much-criticised new NSW Bail Act.

But he came before the Downing Centre District Court today to attempt to reduce his daily reporting to police to twice a week.

His lawyer Mario Licha said his client didn’t want to report on Fridays and weekends because of worship duties and reporting daily was also not good for his “bad knee”.

But crown prosecutor Victoria Engel said that the strict bail conditions were necessary because he had breached bail before and had a history of stalking and intimidation.

Ms Engel said the local court found him to be an “unacceptable risk” when giving him bail but had attempted to mitigate the risk by imposing strict bail conditions.

Judge David Frearson denied the man the proposed changes to his bail conditions.

The man has been accused of telling his daughter not to use contraception after her “wedding” and it is alleged she was told that sharia law overrides Australian law.

‘No contraception’

Police allege the man permitted the pair to be together to pre-empt the “sin” of sex before marriage because the girl was showing signs that she was interested in boys.

He is yet to enter a plea but is due to stand trial over charges of procuring a child for sex and accessory before the fact to sexual intercourse with a child.

The girl’s 26-year-old “husband” was charged with 25 counts of sexual intercourse with a child and is being held at Villawood Detention Centre after his student visa was revoked.

The alleged child bride, who is now 13, and her eight-year-old sister remain in the care of the Department of Community Services.

The Muslim cleric who performed the ceremony pleaded guilty to solemnisation of a marriage by an unauthorised person earlier this year and fined $500 by a Sydney court.

Originally published as Father of child bride: Soften my bail