Early marriage problem reraised as a mother strangled her baby to death
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Friday, May 24
Early marriage problem has been reraised in Georgia after the reports this week that a 16-year-old girl strangled her seven-month toddler in the Agiani village of eastern Georgia.
Police have already detained and charged the girl who got married when she was 14.
His husband is now 20 years old.
The detainee has admitted that she committed the crime, police says.
“The tragedy once again revealed that the attitude as if the marriage is the private issue and the state must not get involved is false,” First Deputy Chairperson Tamar Chugoshvili said.
She stated that a range of activities have been carried out over the past several years to raise public awareness regarding negative sides of early marriage and various changes have been introduced into the law.
“However, it seems like more steps are in need,” she said.
A sexual relationship with an individual up to 16 years is a criminal offence in Georgia.
The investigation is also trying now to identify the reasons on why the law enforcers did not show the interest to the issue of the 16-year-old when she gave birth, as during the registration of the childbirth it would have been obvious that the girl was underage.
Husband says that he had suspected that her wife was messaging with someone on the phone and they had argued because of this.
“She was on the phone all day long,” he said.
The family says that the police found the girl in a hotel with a man and they were both detained.
They also claim that the girl took jewelry after strangling the child and went to Tbilisi with a taxi, where she met the man.
Several of the neighbors told the media that the girl suffered from psychological problems after giving birth.
Experts will specify whether the detainee is mentally healthy.
There are no official statistics on how many people get married when they were underage.
The Georgian National Statistics Office has announced plans to count the data.
The Georgian Public Defender’s Office reports that in 2015 611 marriages were registered with underage people, while the figure in 2014 was 665.
In the 95 percent cases, girls were underage.
