Kawsar Ahmad (covered in grey jacket) departs the Melbourne Magistrates Court in Melbourne. [Photo Credit: AAP Image/Con Chronis]
An accused ISIS bride has been given a police barricade as she walked from court and into the arms of her loved ones.
Kawsar Ahmad, 54, emerged from Melbourne Magistrates Court about 7.30pm on Friday, with a group of police officers forming a line to push media back.
Members of her family quickly covered her face with jackets but she could be seen embracing one of them in the back of the waiting vehicle.
Three hours earlier, Chief Magistrate Lisa Hannan granted Ahmad bail with strict conditions after finding she posed a very low risk to the community.
She had spent the past two months in custody after being charged with slavery offences upon her return to Australia with other family members of former Islamic State fighters.
Prosecutors allege Ahmad migrated to Syria with her husband Mohammed and their children to join Islamic State about January 2015.
It’s alleged while in Syria in 2017, Mohammed bought a teenage girl as a slave for $US10,000.
The girl was repeatedly raped and beaten by Mohammed, including an incident where she was hit and dragged down two flights of stairs by the hair, the court was told.
It’s alleged Ahmad agreed to the purchase and then treated the girl badly, often threatening her with beatings or the prospect of being sold.
Prosecutors allege Ahmad would ask her husband to assault the teen and while she never assaulted the girl herself, she would often scream at her over trivial matters.
In opposing bail, Detective Senior Constable Marc Clendenning told the court Ahmad was a risk to the community and there were concerns she would spread extremist ideology if released.
Ahmad’s defence barrister, Peter Morrissey SC, argued his client did not support Islamic State and strict bail conditions including a ban on attending mosques would reduce any alleged risk.
Judge Hannan found while risk could never be entirely eliminated, Ahmad posed such a low one that stringent bail conditions could make the risk acceptable.
The judge pointed to the evidence of a psychologist who assessed Ahmad and found she no longer held radical views or posed a risk of recidivism.
“Dr (Michael) Davis says that he did not find any blatant indication that the applicant held any lingering beliefs of extremism,” Judge Hannan said in her reasons.
“And there is ‘simply nothing’ to suggest that she is not one of the approximately 98 per cent who do not go on to reoffend.”
