Mouhammad Tabbaa arrives at the NSW court
The father of a 13-year-old girl who claimed she was kidnapped and taken to Syria has denied locking her up and physically abusing family members.
Mouhammad Tabbaa and his former wife Pamela June Tabbaa are suing the Nine Network over a 60 Minutes program.
The show aired in 2014 in which their daughter Nadia, now 29, said she was kidnapped in 2002 while holidaying in Egypt.
Nadia said she was beaten by her father, taken to Syria and forced to marry her older cousin before she escaped in 2006.
Nadia said she was beaten by her father, taken to Syria and forced to marry her older cousin before she escaped in 2006
In the NSW Supreme Court on Monday Mr Tabbaa admitted arguing and raising his voice with his family, but said there was never any physical violence.
He denied striking Ms Tabbaa with a plank of wood and threatening her with scissors in 1983, saying he was in and out of the country that year.
‘I had no time to hold people over balconies or hold scissors to their necks,’ he said.
The now 60-year-old said the couple had lived in Jordan from 1992 until 1997 when Ms Tabbaa decided to return to Sydney with their children.
He said he didn’t see Nadia again until she returned to Jordan with her brother in 2002.
‘She kissed me on both cheeks,’ he said. ‘She wasn’t angry, she was happy.’
Over the phone his ex-wife revealed she was ‘having trouble’ with Nadia in Sydney and needed help.
Mr Tabbaa denied striking wife Pamela (pictured) with a plank of wood and threatening her
In 2014, Nadia went on ’60 MInutes’ saying that she was kidnapped in 2002 while in Egypt
Mr Tabbaa said that his wife Pamela (pictured) asked him to send ‘troubled’ teen Nadia to Syria
‘She said, “Look, unexpectedly everything went against me when we returned to Australia”,’ he said.
He told the jury he ‘had no option’ but to go along with his ex-wife’s plan to send the troubled teen to Syria with his mother, after just three weeks in Jordan.
‘This was a female issue and I was probably expected to provide the logistic of it,’ he said. He denied locking up Nadia or allowing her to get married.
Mr Tabbaa said while Nadia was in Syria he spoke to her every four or five weeks and ‘she was happy with the food… the company… the clothing… (and) the gold.’
The hearing continues.
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