Student attacked sister for marrying in secret
A university student who repeatedly hit his younger sister after learning she had married in secret has been jailed for 14 months.
The victim suffered bruising and swelling on the left side of her face after being attacked at her mother's home in south Lincolnshire.
A judge at Lincoln Crown Court on Tuesday made an order preventing the family, originally from Saudi Arabia, from being identified.
The court was told it was not a typical "honour crime" and the safety of the woman, who has now left the UK, could not be guaranteed.
Stephen Lowne, prosecuting, said the brother lost his temper after discovering his sister had married without their parents' knowledge.
He pushed, shoved and repeatedly struck her with the flat of his hand and punched her with his fist once.
He threw a hairbrush at her sister after she tried to intervene and the woman was then threatened again after her father turned up.
Mr Lowne said that at the time of the incident neither the brother nor the father were aware she was also pregnant by her new husband.
The brother pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm and common assault as a result of the incident on September 24.
Passing sentence, Judge John Machin said it was a "simply appalling attack" and nothing could justify the way the victim was treated.
He told the brother: "I quite understand the cultural background but this attack, on any view, was one you were not entitled to make."
The woman's father was sentenced to a two-year conditional discharge after he pleaded guilty to common assault.
The court heard in mitigation that the brother was now ashamed of the way in which he had behaved when he found out about the marriage.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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