Man gets probation after marrying 15-year-old in Syria, conceiving baby in Malta

A man who married a 15-year-old girl in Syria and conceived their first child in Malta a year later has been found guilty of participating in sexual activities with a minor.

He was spared jail but handed a three-year probation order after the court said it needed to send a message that "such marriages should be avoided". 

Police were alerted to the case in 2021 when they received a report from the International Protection Agency flagging concerns that the girl might have been trafficked and forced into marriage.

She was called in for questioning that March and arrived at the station with her husband. Through a translator, she explained that they married in Syria in 2019 with their families' approval. 

They later left Syria, travelling through Turkey and Greece, where she was granted protection status. At some point she became separated from her husband and arrived without him in Malta in July 2020.

When the police spoke with the girl she was already seven months pregnant. She told them that she was not forced into marrying the accused and was happy with him. He confirmed he was the father of the child. 

Roberta Buhagiar, then Refugee Commissioner and head of the International Protection Agency, told the court that her team became involved in December 2020 when a man requested documents for a 15-year-old child.

They alerted police and the Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers.

Later in court, the girl confirmed she had married the man in Syria in 2019 and now had two children with him. She asked the court not to proceed with the case against her husband and chose not to testify against him.  

The defence called the Imam from the Islamic Centre, who explained that under Sharia Law, there's no fixed age for marriage - though in Syria the legal age is 18, with exemptions if the girl's father gets court authorisation.  

He also noted that decrees given by Sharia Law courts are recognised by the local court, such as in the case of divorce.

The couple had remarried once in Malta.

While the court accepted that the girl had consented to the marriage, it noted the man had admitted knowing she was only 15 at the time and that she became pregnant in Malta.

Magistrate Claire Stafrace acknowledged that while the couple appeared "happy with their situation", the court had to send a message that "such marriages should be avoided". 

She pointed out that while the marriage could be valid under civil law, it does not preclude criminal action.

Deciding that that prison was not the right way to make that point, she said there was still a need to sanction it to avoid abuse of the system. She instead gave the man a three-year probation order.

Police inspector Dorianne Tabone prosecuted.