A federal court in Florida has found a Bangladeshi-American man guilty of trying to turn his 12-year-old niece into his “child-wife”, according to a statement issued by the Department of Justice.
Mirza Afzal Hussain, 55, a resident of Brandon, Florida has been convicted of forced coercion and enticement of a minor, document fraud and aggravated identity theft and faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison.
Hussain had reportedly agreed to house his sister and her family, including two minor daughters, when the relatives legally immigrated to the United States from Bangladesh in 2010.
According to evidence presented at the trial, Hussain’s relatives were culturally and socially isolated, did not have employment, lacked transportation, and spoke very little English and during their stay at his house, he developed a romantic and sexual interest in his 12-year old niece.
“He bought the child tight, American styled-clothing, romantic jewelry, and cellphones. He also sexually battered his niece and started living with her openly as if she were his spouse — in front of her family and his wife,” said the statement.
The prosecution has said that Hussain’s wife left him, and, in early 2012, the relatives and his 12-year-old niece too moved out of his home.
For several years, Hussain continued to contact his niece. He signed her out of school, lingered outside her new residence, and continued to contact her by phone frequently.
Hussain has also been accused of sending sexually explicit text messages to his niece—"professing his love for her and his intention to marry her, discussing sex with her and soliciting naked photographs from her”.
“He also manipulated her into falsifying reports claiming her parents were abusing her,” says the prosecution’s statement.
The investigators have presented evidence that in November 2012, Hussain traveled to Bangladesh and obtained a false birth certificate that changed his niece’s birth date, making her appear to be three years older.
He reportedly returned to the United States and used that birth certificate to fraudulently obtain a new Legal Permanent Resident Card reflecting her new birth year.
“He showed up at his niece’s home and tried to take her away from her parents — presenting the Legal Permanent Resident Card as proof that she was an adult,” said the prosecution.
Hussain’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 11, 2019.