A mother jailed for forcing her 20-year-old daughter to marry her eventual murderer claims she should have been shown mercy and spared prison time.
Sakina Muhammad Jan, 48, challenged her three-year jail term and made an application for bail in the Victorian Court of Appeal on Tuesday.
In May, she became the first person in Australia to be convicted of causing another person to enter into a forced marriage.
A County Court jury found she forced her daughter Ruqia Haidari to marry Mohammad Ali Halimi in August 2019.
Halimi killed his young bride five months after their wedding and is serving a life sentence for her murder.
In her appeal on Tuesday, Patrick Tehan KC argued the sentencing judge failed to factor in Ms Haidari's death as extra-curial punishment for his client.
"She didn't take it into consideration at all ... and she should have," Mr Tehan told the court.
Jan was suffering chronic post-traumatic stress disorder because of her daughter's death and her "significantly deprived" background in Afghanistan, the barrister argued.
Jan was married at 12 years old and saw members of her family killed by the Taliban before migrating to Australia with her children, Mr Tehan said.
Jan's visa had also been cancelled since her sentencing and she was facing indefinite immigration detention as an unlawful non-citizen, the barrister said.
He argued the uncertainty surrounding her future was another form of additional punishment.
"This case was quite exceptional and called for the extension of mercy," Mr Tehan said.
He noted the maximum penalty for causing a person to enter into a forced marriage was seven years behind bars.
Mr Tehan argued Jan's three-year jail term was manifestly excessive and she should instead be re-sentenced to four months, reckoned as already served.
It would also be open to the appeal judges to impose a community corrections order alongside the four-month prison term, Mr Tehan said.
But Darren Renton SC, representing the Commonwealth, argued the sentencing judge did not fall into error.
He accused Jan's barrister of trying to run another plea hearing instead of challenging the mistakes of the sentencing judge.
"This is a court of error, not a court of having a second crack," Mr Renton said.
"Her Honour was engaging in a very difficult task. Her Honour correctly approached the task."
Mr Renton also noted under the legislation, the court could not impose a combination sentence of jail time and a community corrections order.
Court of Appeal President Karin Emerton and Justices Lesley Taylor and Christopher Boyce reserved their decision on appeal but refused Jan's application for bail.
Justice Emerton noted they did not consider her appeal prospects to be so strong as to warrant bail.
Jan's family and supporters filled the courtroom on Tuesday, while Jan was assisted in court by an interpreter.
