High Court grants girl, 15, permission to marry lover, 38
In a landmark ruling by Chief Justice Ian Chang on September 24, last, a 15-year-old girl has been granted permission to marry her 38-year-old lover who has been accused of raping her.
The teenager who is about four months pregnant had petitioned the High Court on September 23, through her attorney to legalise the union with the man who police had charged for raping her under the new Sexual Offences Act.
The teen was said to have been living with the man when authorities were called in and the 38-year-old subsequently charged. The young girl’s family is in total support of the union and is thus seeking to have the criminal matter against the 38-year-old dismissed.
According to court documents, the young girl was residing at Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo, with her father and older sister when she encountered the 38-year-old man, Karim Majeed. In a statement to the court, the girl’s mother submitted that her older daughter had contacted her to collect the young girl because she had developed feelings for the man whom the family contended was too old for her.
The mother, who resides on East Bank Demerara, traveled to Tuschen and took the teen back to her home. However, after two weeks with the mother, the 15-year-old ran away. She contacted the mother two days later but did not disclose her location.
About two weeks after that contact, the mother said that her eldest daughter contacted her again to say this time, that the 15-year-old was living home with Majeed. Again the mother went to collect her daughter. She said she tried explaining to the child that she was too young to be living home, but the girl swore that she could not live without the man and if she was forced to part, she would kill herself.
With no other option and fearing that the teen would make good on the promise, the parents decided to leave the 15-year-old at the gentleman’s house. The teenager and her lover were then married but did so without legal documentation.
According to Attorney-at-law Mohamed Zafar, his 15-year-old client and her common-law husband held a ceremony with the child’s parents consent. However, down the line, the 15-year-old became pregnant and thus sought medical attention. It was during that time, he said, that welfare officers were called in and then the police, who later laid the rape charge.
Zafar was thus retained by the 15-year-old who wanted her union to be legalized. A petition along with a sworn affidavit was submitted to the High Court. With the evidence of the child and her parents, the court permitted the teen to marry her 38-year-old husband.
Zafar said that the marriage is permitted under Section 31 of the Marriage Act which allows the teen to be married by virtue of court order, since she is under- age. He said that the young woman then applied for a marriage licence number which was further granted as a result of the court order.
The couple was later wedded, legally, on October 11 at Parika. However, Majeed is still before the Vreed-en-Hoop court on the rape charge. The matter was called before Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo yesterday and was adjourned to November 26, for a way forward on the unusual case.
Zafar brought up the fact of the 15-year-old’s petition and the couple’s subsequent marriage, before requesting to have the 15-year-old as a defence witness. The prosecution however, objected to the request and the court supported the objection. The court ordered that the teen could not serve as a defence witness, since she is now a complete witness for the prosecution.
However moves are in the making to have the case dropped against the 38-year-old since the couple is now legally married, the union was blessed by the teen’s parents and a child is now on the way.
