A mother who forced her 20-year-old daughter into a marriage that ended in her murder is appealing against her three-year jail term, with her lawyer arguing she deserves mercy due to her own traumatic past in Afghanistan.
Sakina Muhammad Jan, 48, was the first person in Australia to be convicted of causing another person to enter into a forced marriage after a jury found she compelled her daughter, Ruqia Haidari, to marry Mohammad Ali Halimi in August 2019. Halimi killed Haidari five months later and is serving a life sentence for her murder.
In the Victorian court of appeal on Tuesday, Patrick Tehan KC argued the sentencing judge failed to consider the death of Haidari as an extra punishment for Jan, who suffers from chronic post-traumatic stress disorder. He noted Jan was married at 12 in Afghanistan and witnessed family members killed by the Taliban before migrating to Australia.
Tehan also highlighted that Jan's visa had been cancelled, leaving her facing indefinite immigration detention, which he described as another form of additional punishment. He argued the three-year term was manifestly excessive and proposed a four-month sentence, which she has already served.
However, Darren Renton SC, for the Commonwealth, countered that the sentencing judge had not erred and accused the defence of attempting to re-run the plea hearing. The court of appeal president, Karin Emerton, along with justices Lesley Taylor and Christopher Boyce, reserved their decision on the appeal but refused Jan's application for bail, stating her prospects were not strong enough.
