British man arrested at Disneyland Paris after 'wedding' with girl aged nine
British man arrested at Disneyland Paris after 'wedding' with girl aged nine
The 'wedding' was witnessed by huge crowds at Disneyland Paris
(Image: Dave G. Houser via Getty Images )
Theme park staff stopped a British man who allegedly staged a fake wedding with a nine year-old girl. The ceremony was seen by huge crowds under the iconic castle at Disneyland Paris. The 22 year-old is man was said to have played the role of the "groom" in strange event at dawn on June 21 beneath thepark's Sleeping Beauty castle. He told police that the "wedding" was staged for a social media video.
Disneyland Paris staff reportedly intervened and alerted authorities when spotted a nine year-old Ukrainian child dressed as a bride. The can be booked outside public visiting hours, and the organisers are said to have reserved it for what they claimed would be an authentic wedding ceremony, reported Yorkshire Live .and the Express.
Footage obtained by French broadcaster BFM TV showed around 100 guests seated before the ceremony began while a female violin trio performed in front of a flower-adorned stage, the Times reported. The event is said to have cost the organiser €130,000 (£111,229).
Alexandre Verney, assistant prosecutor for the Seine-et-Marne département, said: "Four people were arrested and questioned: the groom, who was believed to be the organiser of the event and is presumed to be British and aged 22; the mother of the child, a 41-year-old Ukrainian woman; and two Latvian nationals aged 55 and 24.
"It wasn't a wedding but a staged wedding that was to be filmed with a hundred extras. They privatised Disneyland, claiming that it was a real marriage."
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The mother and the older Latvian were released after the child was medically examinaned, which showed no signs of abuse or restraint, it was reported. But the British man and the other Latvian were stopped for questioning over potential money laundering and fraud offences, said the prosecutor's office.
Disney thanked its staff for halting the peculiar proceedings. A witness told Le Parisien: "We were not informed at any point that it was about a film shoot. We all believed we were going to be part of a wedding. Everyone was shocked. No one saw this coming. Disneyland handles things very well. They immediately cancelled when they realised that the bride was a child. We were appalled by that."
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