Woman beaten, raped by husband, court told

A woman who fled Iraq seeking a new life was beaten and raped by her new husband, the High Court was told today.

A woman who fled Iraq with her two young children for a better life in New Zealand was repeatedly raped, beaten and punched by her new husband, a court was told today.

An Iraqi man, 42, appeared in the High Court at Auckland facing 19 charges, at the start of a trial expected to last at least a week.

He has denied charges of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, threatening to kill, wounding, and assault with intent to injure.

Prosecutor Phil Hamlin said the accused subjected the people who loved him to beatings and sexual violence over a number of years.

The man threatened to "chop" off his wife's head, cut her hand, threw a knife at her, which hit one of her daughters on the forehead, Mr Hamlin said.

He punched another daughter on the nose for refusing to call him "Dad", threw a computer at his wife's head, and hit her with a wooden spoon.

He also swung the couple's own child around by her hair.

Mr Hamlin said the young woman from Kurdistan had wanted a better life.

She was married aged 14 to her first cousin, who was twice her age, and had her first child aged 15.

Her second child was born at a refugee camp in Kurdistan, in northern Iraq, when she was 20.

Mr Hamlin said the woman met the accused and his family at the refugee camp.

She left Iraq with her first husband and their two children and moved to Canada.

The accused moved to New Zealand in 1997.

He contacted the woman in Canada, told her he had feelings for her, and he wanted her to come to New Zealand.

When she went to New Zealand he forced her to have sex.

She told her husband in Canada what had happened and he said he wanted a divorce.

Now back in Iraq, the woman feared she would die in an honour killing, as she had brought shame on her family, Mr Hamlin said.

Her family helped her leave Iraq to return to Canada.

The accused contacted the woman and told her he had left his wife and told her to return to New Zealand.

He promised he would look after her, give her a new life and be a good father to her children.

The woman returned to New Zealand in November 1999, aged 24, with her two children, Mr Hamlin said.

Within six weeks, they were married in an Islamic ceremony and living with her children in Auckland.

At first, life was idyllic, but things started going wrong in 2000.

The accused hit, slapped, kicked and choked his wife until she lost consciousness while she was pregnant with their child.

The beatings continued over the next six years.

After their child was born in October 2000, it was Iraqi custom to refrain from having sex for 40 days.

But the accused forced her to have anal intercourse with him instead, which continued on numerous occasions.

She left to return to Kurdistan in November 2006 with the three children.

The accused followed her and took the youngest child back to New Zealand.

The woman had no intention of returning to New Zealand, but she decided to come back in October 2007, when police became involved.

Mr Hamlin said the accused was subsequently arrested and interviews with his wife and children would be played to the jury.

The trial continues tomorrow.

- NZPA