Friday, March 04, 2011

13-year-old California girl flees family to avoid arranged marriage in Pakistan

The story was first reported here, but I think the UK Daily Mail (via Big Peace) has better coverage:
A 13-year-old schoolgirl who was missing for more than a week ran away because she was terrified by her mother and stepfather's alleged plot to send her to Pakistan for an arranged marriage, police claimed today.

Jessie Bender's parents are accused of keeping their plan secret from detectives after reporting that she had disappeared from their California home.

Their claim that Jessie was abducted by a Facebook predator was proved false after she was discovered hiding with a relative at a hotel about 30 miles from her home in Hesperia, California.

Speaking to MailOnline, Hesperia Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Roxanne Walker said Jessie's stepfather, Mohammad Khan - who is from Pakistan - and her American mother, Melissa, were planning an arranged marriage for the teen.

'There was something to that effect in the works and the daughter was scared.

'She was found with the uncle who was protecting her from the parents,' said Ms Walker.

Detective Gerald Davenport was carrying out interviews today to determine whether the parents will face prosecution.

One line of inquiry is whether there was any intention to involve Jessie in an arranged marriage in Pakistan while she was under age.

Police also slammed the Bender family for 'misleading' them over Jessie's disappearance, wasting time and resources.

Mrs Walker added: ‘Bender family members misled detectives and withheld critical information and as a result delayed the investigation and recovery of their daughter Jessie Bender.'

Jessie's family had reported her missing on February 22.

They told police they feared she had been abducted by a man she met on Facebook.
It later emerged her mother Melissa admitted to police that the family were set to go on a two-month trip to Pakistan on February 23.

[...] Jessie and her three siblings have been taken to child protective custody by county social services, and no arrests have been made.
Of the parents? Well I will say that they should both be, and definitely ostracized by the neighborhood they live in, for attempting to sell their daughter into slavery, and the mother has pegged herself as complicit in perversion and deviation from western values. As you'll see when you read the article in full, they raised a lot of ruckus for nothing through their conspiracy of silence unto the police, whom they didn't have the courage to admit their true intentions. They should both be jailed for attempted abuse of an underage girl.

5 comments:

joe six-pack said...

Arranged marriages is normal for many from that region. So they do not think of it as selling her into slavery nor that she is underage. On top of this, the culture of Islam is flexible (one of the few cases where Islam IS flexible) and allows you to lie. Deviation from western values is not seen as being bad simply because our value system is so decadent in the first place.

This is a good example of some of the problems that we face in this war. Islamic nationalism and governance is at war against us. This very culture is hostile to us and our way of life. This reason alone has started more wars than any other that I know of.

Pastorius said...

Good post, Avi. Thanks.

I saw this story last night, and meant to post it this morning. I'm glad you did.

Avi Green said...

You're welcome. I realized it was very important info, and knew I should look for and write about it as soon as I could.

American Rose said...

It just keeps coming. Just going to keep getting worse.

I wonder if someone is actively keeping a tally of these pisslamic crimes in America? I'd be interested in seeing how the incidents are growing year after year.

American Rose said...

Looks like my post took? Hope so?