Costa mother arrested for forcing child to marry stranger

A MOTHER has been charged in Spain for allegedly forcing her 16-year-old daughter to marry a man 12 years her senior.

The 31-year-old Moroccan woman was arrested after the teenager told officers at Estepona police station that she had been made to wed the older man in the town of Kenitra, Morocco.

According to a police source, the mother would have reached an ‘economic agreement with the 28-year-old man’ and perhaps even bribed a local authority to consummate the marriage.

It is claimed that once back in Spain, the girl refused to return to Morocco to take part in celebrations, and was consequently threatened to be taken and left there without her passport or other identification.

Officers visited the home of the teenage student and arrested her mother who has been charged with crimes of coercion and against family rights and duties.

The daughter is said to be staying in a centre for the protection of minors.