A young Afghani woman killed by her cruel husband after an alleged arranged marriage had been duped into agreeing to the indecent proposal, a court has heard.
Sakina Muhammad Jan, 45, is facing a single charge of causing another person to enter a forced marriage.
Police allege Muhammad Jan pressured her daughter Ruqia Haidari, 21, to marry 25-year-old Uber driver Mohammad Ali Halimi in November 2019.
Sakina Muhammad Jan, 45, is facing a single charge of causing another person to enter a forced marriage, and faced Shepparton Magistrates Court for the first time this week
She had been told if she married the complete stranger she could move from Melbourne to Perth and attend university there.
Halimi was sentenced in August in the Supreme Court of Western Australia to life imprisonment with a 19-year minimum for murdering his wife.
The 26-year old had used a kitchen knife to twice slash Ms Haidari's throat in January last year after she refused to consummate their marriage.
On Thursday, the Shepparton Magistrates' Court - 180km north of Melbourne - heard Ms Haidari, who had just graduated Year 12, had been desperate to get out of the arranged marriage.
Family friend Shukria Muqadas, 31, told the court Ms Haidari's mum had asked her daughter's soon-to-be killer for $20,000 to marry her, but accepted $15,000.
Another friend of Ms Haidari, Zarah Haydar Big, claimed her friend had been too scared to raise her concerns with her mum over the arranged marriage.
She told the court her friend believed it was 'culturally inappropriate' to do so.
Ms Haydar Big said her friend was told her marriage would provide her with 'freedom'.
'She said that everything was going to be fine. She somehow was hoping she would get to her dream job, she could study, she could be free, she could have freedom of movement,' she said.
Ms Haydar Big said Ms Haidari was promised by both her mother and husband that she could enrol in university after the wedding in January - the eventual month she was murdered.
Ms Haidari had been keen to continue working with the Afghan community and study to become a social worker.
