Sakina Muhammad Jan, 45, is charged with recklessly coercing her daughter Ruqia Haidari into a forced marriage, placing her in danger of death or serious harm between May 31 and November 9, 2019.
On Friday she pleaded not guilty to the charge at the end of a three-day committal hearing at Shepparton Magistrates’ Court.
Ms Muhammad Jan will now stand trial in Melbourne County Court.
The three-day committal heard of the events in the lead-up to and then the arranged marriage of Ruqia Haidari and Mohammad Ali Halimi from the Perth suburb of Balcatta.
In the final day of the committal hearing, the court heard from Australian Federal Police federal agent Senior Constable Jacob Purcell who is attached to the Human Trafficking Team in Melbourne.
In his statement tendered to the court, Sen Constable Purcell said forced marriage was a human trafficking offence under the Criminal Code Act.
He said a referral was sent to the Red Cross on August 19, 2019, for it to begin engaging with Ms Haidari.
The Red Cross provides welfare support to human trafficking victims.
His statement also spoke of finding out 21-year-old Ms Haidari had been killed by her husband on January 18, 2020.
Halimi was convicted in Western Australia’s Supreme Court of murdering Ms Haidari in January 2020 — about two months after they married — and sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 19 years.
At Friday’s committal hearing, Sen Constable Purcell was questioned by the defence counsel about whether Ms Muhammad Jan had understood her rights when she was being questioned by police with the help of an interpreter.
Sen Constable Purcell said initially she had not, but he was later confident that she had understood.
Ms Haidari’s friend Sana Nowrozi also gave evidence on Friday.
In her statement to police that was tendered to the court, Ms Nowrozi said her friend did not want to marry Halimi but felt she had to because of her family.
“They were very strict and told her she must marry this man,” she said in her statement.
She told how Ms Haidari had told her she did not want to get married, saying “My mum accepted (the proposal) for me and I am not happy”.
Ms Nowrozi said Ms Haidari had told her she had spoken to her mother about it and Ms Muhammad Jan had replied “I know better than you. You’re not old enough to know. Whatever I do is the best thing for you”.
In her statement, Ms Nowrozi also spoke of how she had spoken to Ms Haidari the day before she was killed and had asked how everything with Halimi was, but Ms Haidari said she couldn’t talk because he was there.
The committal hearing also heard from the matchmaker who made the introductions for the marriage, as well as other witnesses, including Ms Haidari’s friends, a teacher and her driving instructor.
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