Teen groom of child bride faces arrest

THE teenage groom of a 12-year-old girl forced into a gypsy marriage in Romania is facing arrest.

And the girl, Ana Maria Cioaba, the daughter of a self-proclaimed gypsy king, may be put in an orphanage. Ana's weekend marriage to 15-year-old Birita Mihai has drawn the condemnation of the European Union and human rights groups.

Police in the Transylvanian city of Sibiu were investigating whether Mihai was guilty of statutory rape, said Calin Tatu, the spokesman for the local prosecutor's office. Cristina Sasu, a spokeswoman for the police in Sibiu, 185 miles north-west of Bucharest, said that investigators had ordered Cioaba to undergo a medical examination to determine whether the marriage was consummated. If Mihai is found guilty of having sex with a minor, he could be sent to a rehabilitation centre, Sasu said.

Senior government official Serban Mihailescu said the girl may be placed in an orphanage.

Cioaba's godfather, Doru Viorel Ursu, denied reports that the girl was raped by Mihai on their wedding night, but did not say whether the pair had intimate relations. Ursu defended the wedding as a gypsy custom.

Cioaba's wedding first caused a stir after the reluctant bride stormed out of the church during the service and said she did not want to marry.

She returned to the church 15 minutes later, her face sullen. Her father who was the ceremony's minister and the groom were waiting for her, and the service continued.

Though the legal age for marriage in Romania is 18, the country generally tolerates the tradition of arranged child weddings among Roma as gypsies are also known. Romanian law allows 16-year-olds to get married if they have parental consent.

The EU envoy to Romania, Baroness Emma Nicholson, condemned the marriage on Tuesday.