A man who married and impregnated a 12-year-old girl has been sentenced to at least seven and a half years in jail for persistent sexual abuse. Judge Deborah Sweeney said on Friday the 27-year-old Lebanese man, who cannot be named, had persisted in pursuing his Australian victim despite her initial reluctance. He then 'married her' before he sexually assaulted her on numerous occasions between January 11 and February 5 last year. The Australian girl was pregnant when her 26-year-old Lebanese husband was charged with ongoing child sex abuse. A 27-year-old man has been sentenced to at least seven and a half years behind bars . The pair held their 'wedding', which was allegedly arranged by her father, in the girl's lounge room in the Hunter region in NSW, in January last year. It is alleged the man gave the child $500 as a wedding gift. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the man told the court today that 'his cultural and religious beliefs doesn't excuse his behaviour'. The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged with one count of persistent sexual abuse of a child, the girl was diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy and then miscarried in February after complaining of  abdominal pain. The girl, now 13, didn't want to marry the student because of the 14 year age gap but the man bombarded her with text messages after he first laid eyes on her in a mosque in November 2013, court papers stated. The man pleaded guilty in Burwood Local Court in October to one count of persistent sexual abuse of a child, which carries a 25-year maximum jail sentence. The 27-year-old Lebanese student and the 12-year-old Australian girl spent their wedding night as a motel in the Hunter region of NSW where they had sex several times . The charge takes in 25 counts of sexual intercourse with a child between 10 and 14, with which the man was originally charged. He was ordered not to contact his victim for two years. Police allege the man married the Hunter Valley girl in an Islamic ceremony earlier last year. The girl's father will face trial this year. The father, who is in his 60s, allegedly arranged the illegal marriage. The father allegedly organised his daughter's marriage to the Lebanese immigrant because he wanted to stop her from 'committing a life of sin'. He was charged with procuring a child under 14 for unlawful sexual activities, and being an accessory before the fact to sexual intercourse with a person under 14. Court documents say the girl met the 27-year-old man at a mosque in November 2013  after he approached her father and asked to meet her. Police allege the young girl's father enabled his daughter's sexual assault by organising the unlawful marriage - including allowing them to swap phone numbers and meet three times in the family home before the ceremony. The couple spent their wedding night at a motel in the Hunter region where they had sex several times, police allege. A week after the wedding, the father asked the girl's older siblings to put two single mattresses next to each other to make a queen size bed so the couple had a bed in the family home. The imam who performed the ceremony pleaded guilty to solemnising the marriage and was fined $500. In court documents it is claimed that since the marriage the pair engaged in sexual activities on a daily basis until February when their relationship was discovered by a Centrelink worker, when the man tried to get registered as the girl’s legal guardian in order to obtain welfare benefits. 'The girl has expressed a strong desire to start a family with the [then] 26-year-old,' the police report states. The man has had his student visa cancelled and is now living in an immigration detention centre.
A Lebanese man who 'married' a 12-year-old girl has been sentenced . The 27-year-old will spend at least seven and a half years in jail . He 'married' the girl before he sexually assaulted her . The Australian girl was pregnant when the man was charged . Their wedding was allegedly arranged by the girl's father .