Newcastle child bride’s ‘husband’ pleads guilty to persistent sexual abuse of child

An overseas student who repeatedly sexually abused a 13-year-old girl under the guise of a “marriage” performed in the Hunter Valley has pleaded guilty to the crime.

The 26-year-old Lebanese man, who cannot be named, was visiting Australia on a student visa when he “married” the underage girl during an Islamic ceremony in the Hunter in January.

After the ceremony, he repeatedly sexually abused the girl until he was arrested earlier this year.

On Thursday, he pleaded guilty in the Burwood Local Court to a single charge of persistent sexual abuse of a child.

He appeared via audiovisual link from the Villawood detention centre where he has been detained since his student visa was revoked, and will now go to the District Court for sentencing.

The man had previously been charged with 26 separate counts of having sexual intercourse with a child aged under 14, but those counts were rolled into the single charge with the consent of prosecutors.

Police allege the man befriended the girl when she was 12 while he was studying at the University of Newcastle.

He later moved with her to a unit in Sydney’s south-west.

The girl’s father is also facing charges in relation to the matter, and is still before the courts.

Child abuse squad detectives began an investigation after learning the man had tried to obtain guardianship of the girl at Centrelink.

It is believed he was trying to become the girl’s guardian after she expressed an interest in going to a school in Sydney.

A Muslim cleric who conducted the ceremony pleaded guilty in April this year and was fined $500 before being deported to Pakistan.

It is understood the victim met the accused through a local mosque.

The girl and her eight-year-old sister are being cared for by the Department of Family and Community Services.

He will return to court on October 17.

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