A 39-year-old British man was arrested at Disneyland Paris last weekend for trying to have a “mock wedding” with a 9-year-old Ukrainian girl as his bride.
The man, Jacky Jhaj, is a convicted sex offender in the U.K. and was wanted for breaching requirements.
On Saturday, June 21, Disneyland Paris Cast Members were alerted by a guest who had been paid €12,000 ($14,000) to play the father of the bride but realized at the last minute that the bride was a child.
The 9-year-old girl is a Ukrainian national and had arrived in France with her 41-year-old mother two days before the “wedding.” According to a statement by Meaux prosecutor Jean-Baptiste Bladier, the girl had not been a victim of physical or sexual violence and had not been “forced to play the role” of a bride. (via BBC)
Bladier said the wedding was “fictional and meant to be recorded in a private capacity”. Jhaj had used a fake Latvian ID to rent Disneyland Paris for several hours. He had hired about 100 French extras to participate.
A woman who had been hired to play a guest told BFMTV that when she arrived at the event, she saw a “little girl dressed in white with her hair all done up and I saw a woman who picked her up in her arms… and I was shocked, I burst into tears. When I saw [it was a] child – it was horrific.”
After Disneyland Paris was informed of what was going on, they contacted the police. Jhaj and three other people — the girl’s mother, a 24-year-old Latvian woman who was playing the bride’s sister, and a 55-year-old Latvian man — were also arrested.
By Tuesday, only Jhaj was still being held by police. He and the Latvian woman appeared in front of a Meaux judge on June 23. He was charged with fraud, breach of trust, money laundering, and identity theft.
The Latvian woman is still a witness in the investigation.
Jhaj had been “made-up professionally so that his face appeared totally different from his own”, Bladier said.
Jhaj was previously found guilty in 2016 of sexual abuse of two 15-year-olds. The BBC had previously investigated an incident in which Jhaj hired hundreds of children, some as young as six, through casting agencies to play his “fans” at a fake film premiere in London’s Leicester Square in 2023. Last summer, a parent recognized him giving gifts to children outside dance auditions for another production.
U.K. Metropolitan Police said in a statement (via BBC), “A 39-year-old man is wanted by the Met Police for breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and a breach of a Sex Offenders’ Register notification requirement. We are aware the man has been arrested in France for other matters and officers are in contact with the French authorities.”
For the latest Disney Parks news and info, follow WDW News Today on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.