‘This is our custom,’ Grandmother Says As Grandson, 13, Marries 19-Year-Old Bride

A Russian bride identified as Bilana B could face charges and a potential jail sentence of three to ten years for having sex with a child under the age of 14.

According to Mirror, police launched an investigation after the 19-year-old woman gave birth to a baby that was fathered by her groom – a 13-year-old schoolboy.

The boy said he persuaded his older bride to elope with him from her parents’ home in the south-western city of Stavropol. They got married and the boy quit school to support his family financially.

The pair are gypsies and said their relationship is normal in their culture, but police said it is in breach of Russian law and have launched a criminal investigation.

The boy claimed he initiated the relationship after he got her telephone number from a relative and started chatting her up on his phone.

He said:

 “We were talking on the phone for less than two weeks, then I came to her place by car and she left with me.”

He is not old enough to drive, so had to persuade his grandparents to go there with him. The couple have been living together at the boy’s grandparents’ home ever since.

They have a baby son named after the boy’s father, and said their relationship has been formalized in a gypsy wedding.

The boy’s grandmother explained:

“They didn’t have a real wedding, it was very simple. We did not have money. All they did was bring a couple of bottles of vodka.”

She added that she accepts their relationship and could not throw them out of her house, because:

“This is our custom.”

The unidentified boy, who has had to leave school to support his family financially, said:

 “Currently I am in the seventh grade at school. I am working to get some money, but plan on returning to school when I can.”

His bride added:

“(He) will be working, and I will be taking care of the family.”

Photo credit: CEN