Parents ‘lured girl abroad for marriage’

A COUPLE lured their teenage daughter to a sham family holiday to force her to marry her cousin, a court was told.

The father of the victim – who cannot be named for legal reasons – also threatened to “chop her into pieces” when she refused the marriage in 2016, a jury at Leeds Crown Court heard yesterday.

The trial was told that the complainant, now 19, was taken out of her school in Leeds in term time, for what she was told was a family holiday to visit relatives in Bangladesh. Her parents appeared in the dock yesterday, accompanied by a Bengali interpreter.

Addressing the jury, prosecutor Michelle Colborne QC said that less than one week after arriving in the country, she was told of the marriage plans.

“So very, very quickly this was going to take place,” she said. “When she refused, she sought out the support of the other defendant, her mother, who made it clear that this was a shared plan for her future. Her mother swore at her, reminded her that no was not an option and that if necessary there would be violence against her.”

The victim had a boyfriend in Leeds at the time.

Once their daughter refused, her parents took her phone and after initially trying “to be kind and persuasive”, her father resorted to threats. Ms Colborne said: “He would ask her for instance if she’d changed her mind yet and threatened to slit her throat if she didn’t comply.”

The trial continues.