Wife Is 'Unprincipled Because She Smokes,' Says Heavy-Smoking Bigamist

Wife Is 'Unprincipled Because She Smokes,' Says Heavy-Smoking Bigamist
Nicholas Eveleigh via Getty Images

A Muslim bigamist who smokes heavily told a family court judge that his estranged Muslim "wife" was not "principled" - because she smoked.

He told Mr Justice Holman that it was "alright for him as a male to smoke cigarettes" but she was "not a principled woman". The man also said the woman had admitted to having "tasted alcohol".

He said he had believed that she would be an "obedient and submissive Islamic wife". Detail has emerged in a written ruling by the judge following a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

Mr Justice Holman ruled that the woman could leave England and live in the United Arab Emirates with their nine-year-old son - despite objections from the man. He did not name anyone involved.

The judge said the pair lived in England but were both Algerian and had been brought up as Muslims. They had gone through an Islamic marriage ceremony and a civil ceremony in an English register office more than a decade ago. Mr Justice Holman said they had separated in 2010 and their son had stayed with his mother.

Earlier this year the woman had discovered a document which showed that their marriage had been bigamous and "therefore void" - and had contacted police. The judge said the man had been lawfully married to his first wife when he married the woman. He said the woman had been an "innocent victim".

Mr Justice Holman said he heard evidence from the man and the woman. "It is plain to me that the father has what I can only describe as hatred for the mother and he regards her with the utmost and bitter contempt," said the judge.

"He said: 'She is known as cancer by everybody in my family back home'.

"He said to me at one stage: 'She is not a principled woman because she smokes cigarettes.' I understand that she is an occasional smoker. He himself is a heavy smoker, but he said it was alright for him as a male to smoke cigarettes, but the fact that she smokes cigarettes means that she is not a principled woman. He referred to the fact that she had admitted to him many years ago that she had, prior to her marriage to him, tasted alcohol."

Mr Justice Holman said the man "believed that she would be an obedient and submissive Islamic wife. The reality is that this mother is, and for a long time has been, a very westernised woman."

"She has been educated to a very high level here. She has worked and had her own business here. She has applied for, and obtained, British Citizenship; and although she remains Muslim in faith, she has for a long time been thoroughly westernised," he said. "The father simply cannot accept and reconcile himself to that fact. He said at one stage during his evidence that a woman who smokes is a bad woman.

"He said: 'A woman who drinks you don't even think about ... The fact that she once had a drink makes her a woman of very low morals.' He said the word 'very' with great emphasis."

Mr Justice Holman concluded that a move to Abu Dhabi would benefit the boy. He said the advantages outweighed the disadvantages and the youngster would stay in contact with his father. The judge said the youngster was at the centre of "so much conflict between his parents".

He added that the little boy was living in a situation which was "potentially very destructive" for him.

Close

What's Hot