Footage of an alleged forced wedding ceremony between a 14-year-old girl and a man 20 years her senior held at a Melbourne mosque has been played in court.
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Imam Ibrahim Omerdic appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday where he faces charges of conducting the forced marriage at a Bosnian mosque in September, 2016.
During the recording, as the bride's mother looked on, a male voice can be heard saying "she is very young". During the proceeding, Mr Omerdic says that the two should follow the example of the Koran.
"As a wife you have a duty to obey your husband," Mr Omerdic is heard saying in the video.
The footage, which was taken in Mr Omerdic's office at the Bosnia-Herzegovina Islamic Society in Noble Park, was played in court after it was seized by police from the groom's phone.
The 34-year-old groom recently plead guilty to taking part in the marriage after a charge alleging he also had sex with the girl was withdrawn by prosecutors.
The video appears to show Mr Omerdic reading from a script for an Islamic wedding. At one point he is recorded asking the man and the girl whether they take each other as husband and wife.
The young girl, which the court had previously heard was aged 14 at the time, can be seen on the video wearing a light blue headscarf.
The court also heard that a $1480 gold necklace was given as a dowry by the groom.
Mr Omerdic, 62, was sacked from the mosque in the days after his first court appearance in January.
The court was also played Mr Omerdic's interview with police, in which he said he had met the groom a few days prior to the ceremony. He also heard telling detectives that he is a recognised marriage celebrant.
Defence counsel Daniel Gurvich QC said that the marriage was incomplete because the words required to be said by the bride and groom under the law were never repeated.
"Even if the script were sufficient (under the Act)...it is incomplete and therefore the prosecution faces this chasm," he said.
"There was not a marriage as far as the Marriage Act goes."
Mr Gurvich also told the court that a marriage certificate signed by both parties tendered in court was insufficient.
"It is a certificate of Islamic marriage, it is not an Australian marriage," he said.
The hearing before magistrate Phillip Goldberg was adjourned until Thursday.
