A father who allegedly let his 12-year-old daughter marry a man 14 years her senior believes he has done nothing wrong, a court has heard.



The father, who was arrested on Wednesday, is the third person to be charged in relation to the widely condemned wedlock.

The 2013 marriage was allegedly between a 12-year-old girl and a 26-year-old man in the NSW Hunter region.

Police say the 26-year-old man became involved in an ongoing sexual relationship with the girl and this week charged him with 25 counts of sexual intercourse with a child between 10 and 14 years of age.

A bail application for the man was on Wednesday adjourned at Sydney’s Burwood local court until 24 February.

The girl’s 61-year-old father was charged on Wednesday with procuring a child for unlawful sexual activity and being an accessory before the fact to sexual intercourse with a person between 10 and 14 years of age.

The Raymond Terrace local court, where the father unsuccessfully applied for bail, heard the man was of the belief he had done nothing wrong.

His solicitor told the court the man believed his daughter was a very mature and strong-willed woman.

He thought her partner was about 18 to 19 years old, the court heard.

“He said ‘they’re in love and it’s a strong love’ and at this point he’s trying to be supportive of his children,” the solicitor said.

The man is due to face Newcastle local court on 9 April.

Meanwhile, the Islamic cleric who allegedly conducted the marriage has been stood down from his local mosque and had his visa sponsorship revoked.

Pakistani national Riaz Tasawar, 35, has been charged with solemnisation of a marriage by an unauthorised person.

The Islamic Centre of Newcastle, the mosque where Tasawar was the resident imam, on Wednesday said it had severed ties with the man.

“His employment has been dismissed, he is under strict bail conditions, he’s not allowed to come to the mosque and he is going to appear in court,” the centre’s president Yunus Kara said.

Kara said the mosque and the Islamic community were shocked by the news of the marriage, which he says was done “very secretively” and without the knowledge of the centre’s management.

He stressed the issue had been widely condemned by Australia’s Muslim community as an “un-Islamic” act.

Kara said he was concerned about the girl at the centre of the alleged marriage.

“What we worry about is the poor girl, a 12-year-old child, has gotten into such an unbearable situation,” Kara said.