My name is Cristina. I’m 15 and I come from Romania. I lived there and then went to England.
I stayed with my little sisters and brother. I minded them, always at home with them.
And then, one day, my mother married me off.
A friend of hers came to our house and said he wanted to marry me. I heard this and cried, and did all kinds of things not to marry him.
She said, “It’s my decision. You must live by it.”
My husband was 18. I was only 13 and couldn’t do anything.
He was mean. He didn’t know how to act with a girl 14 or 15. He acted as if I were a woman of 20 or 30.
Then I went to Romania where they made my passport and stuff. After that I went to Spain.
I stole and he stayed home. I never wanted to steal but I had to or he would hit me. He saw that stealing wasn’t working in Spain, so we came to Belgium.
I thought that what was doing was wrong and I wanted to stop, and so the police arrested me. I got myself arrested voluntarily. If I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t be here.
They put me in a center and I started to live a normal life.
When I think about it all, I feel really sad. It’s not…
As told to the European Commission
