Mother accused of selling daughter, 21, for $15,000 to Uber driver who slit her throat
Mother is accused of selling her daughter, 21, for $15,000 to an Uber driver who wed her in a lavish Afghan ceremony in Australia before slitting her throat two months later when she refused to consummate the marriage
Ruqia Haidari was murdered by her older husband after their arranged marriage She was devastated when she learned she would be made to marry Uber driver Her husband told her brother: ‘If you’re a man, come get your sister’s dead body’Mother of young bride accused of forcing her daughter to marry eventual killerPolice will allege she arranged the marriage in exchange for a $15,000 dowry
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The mother of a young Afghani woman who was murdered by her husband has been accused of forcing her daughter into an arranged marriage for a $15,000 pay check.
Sakina Muhammad Jan, 45, is facing a single charge of causing another person to enter a forced marriage, and faced court for the first time on Wednesday.
Police will allege Ms Jan pressured Ruqia Haidari, 21, to marry 25-year-old Uber driver Mohammad Ali Halimi in November 2019.
The couple had only met four times when they were married in front of hundreds of guests just outside of Shepparton, 180km north of Melbourne, in a community hall in Mooroopna.
Sakina Muhammad Jan, 45, is facing a single charge of causing another person to enter a forced marriage, and faced Shepparton Magistrates Court for the first time on Wednesday
Halimi decided he would wed Ms Haidari during their first meeting, having made up his mind in the first 30 minutes they spent together, the court reportedly heard.
The marriage quickly soured after the couple flew to the opposite side of Australia to Perth just ten days after Ms Haidari finished her last year at McGuire College.
The young girl repeatedly rebuffed her husband’s attempts to consummate the marriage, which saw him angrily phone her brother several times.
On January 18, Muhammad Taqi Haidari listened helplessly as the pair argued not realising this would be the last time he heard his sister’s voice, the Herald Sun reported.
Mr Haidari would however, speak to his brother-in-law again, when he phoned back to tell him: ‘If you’re a man, come get your sister’s dead body.’
During the time between calls, Halimi found a stainless steel knife from the kitchen and slit Ms Haidari’s throat twice, Western Australia’s Supreme Court eventually determined.
During the first day of a three-day hearing this week, Shepparton Magistrates Court heard Ms Jan visited her daughter in Perth to teach her how to cook and clean.
During the hearing it will be determined if there is sufficient evidence that she forcibly arranged the marriage to stand trial.
Abbey Gawne, Ms Haidari’s best friend (pictured together on the day of graduation), told Daily Mail Australia she had dreams of travelling and adored her new home for the freedoms it afforded her
Friend of the family Shukria Muqadas, 31, revealed in court she was the matchmaker who introduced Ms Haidari to the man who would ultimately end her short life, the Herald Sun reported.
Ms Muqadas said she had acted off the advice of his sister Fatima, who had lived close-by to her in Pakistan and said he was ‘a good boy’ looking for a wife.
She said joked with Ms Haidari about the union for months before the high schooler said she could mention it to her mother.
Ms Muqadas explained it was Hazaragi custom to consult families of the union with two traditional nikah ceremonies held to draw up the agreement and be witnessed.
She said by the second ceremony Ms Haidari had been beside herself and confided in her she no longer wanted to marry the Perth Uber driver.
Ms Muqadas told the court the young bride had felt pressured by her mother and sisters to wed and ultimately decided to accept her fate.
In August 2019, it is alleged Ms Haidari confided in the Australian Federal Police’s human-trafficking team and said she was being coerced into the marriage.
Less than six months later, Halimi turned himself in to the Mirrabooka police station and was eventually sentenced to a minimum of 19 years in prison for the murder of his wife.
Ms Haidari (right) married Halimi (centre) in November 2019, and by January 2020, she had been killed
The former Uber driver wrote a letter to the court claiming he reached breaking point after ‘a long period of rejection, emotional heartache and confusion’.
He’d previously sent videos to Ms Haidari’s family complaining that the marriage wasn’t what he expected. He was upset that she would not cook and clean for him while he worked as an Uber driver or factory hand.
Halimi denied knowing Ms Haidari had been forced to marry him, despite previously admitting to police that she told him as much.
Ms Haidari and her family had fled Afghanistan for Australia when she was 16 years old, seeking a better life for themselves.
Abbey Gawne, Ms Haidari’s best friend, previously told Daily Mail Australia she had dreams of travelling and adored her new home for the freedoms it afforded her.
She had been trying to get in contact with Ms Haidari since the wedding, and claims she spoke to several of their school friends the day before the 21-year-old’s death. None of them had heard from her either.
‘We’d try to call and text, but her phone was always switched off. We were all so worried about her. When our friends said her phone was off whenever they tried too, that indicated something was up,’ she said.
Police taped off Ms Haidari’s home home and conducted forensic testing after her husband led them to the body
Toward the end of high school, Ms Haidari opened up to Ms Gawne about the prospect of an arranged marriage.
Ms Haidari said she did not want to marry a man she didn’t know, but felt there were no other options available to her.
‘She was coming to school exhausted, and tired and really drained. To the point that she was sleeping in classes. I guess it’s because that’s where she felt safe,’ Ms Gawne recalled.
Forced marriage is considered a form of slavery in Australia and a criminal offence, but statistics show up to 80 have taken place in the last financial year alone.
Nobody has ever been convicted for orchestrating a forced marriage in Australia.
AFP 131 237
www.mybluesky.org.au assists people who are at risk of a forced marriage
