Excerpt:
The father of 12-year-old girl gave his blessing for her to be "married" to a Lebanese university student in the Hunter region earlier this year, police will allege.
Detectives investigating the case said the father was "shocked" that his daughter's 26-year-old husband was arrested and charged with more than two dozen child sex offences last week.
Child abuse squad detectives spent much of Thursday and Friday interviewing the victim's father and allege he does not believe there was anything wrong with the pair's union.