‘Dr. Strange’ Actress Zara Phythian and Husband Found Guilty of Sexually Abusing Teenage Girl
Dr. Strange actress Zara Phythian-Marke, 36, has been found guilty of 14 counts of sexual activity with a minor.
On Wednesday (May 11), the Marvel star and her husband, 59-year-old Victor Marke, were convicted at the Nottingham Crown Court on a number of child sex charges. The couple denied the charges and claimed their innocence.
Content warning below // sexual violence, child abuse
The wife and husband duo, the latter a supposed taekwondo master, allegedly supplied a teenage girl with Captain Morgan dark rum and sexually abused her "once or twice a month" over the span of three years beginning when the girl was just 13. Additionally, Victor allegedly sexually abused another girl by himself.
Zara was found guilty of 14 counts of sexual activity with a child in reference to the girl she and Victor abused between 2005 and 2008. Victor was found guilty of 18 counts, including four counts of indecently assaulting a child in relation to a 15-year-old girl he abused between 2002 and 2003; and 14 counts of sexual activity with the same girl that Zara abused between 2005 and 2008.
BBC reports Judge Mark Watson will sentence the pair on May 16.
"Both of you know the sentence I pass on 16 May is likely to be measured by a considerable period of custody," the official told the couple in court after their guilty verdict was read.
According to The Daily Mail, the couple met when Zara was 14, when she joined his School of Champions academy. There, she trained under her future husband, who was 37 at the time. At the time, Victor was married to his first wife Juliet.
The outlet reports Zara underwent a ceremony to become Victor's "official disciple" when she was still a minor and that she accepted him as her "master" during a Shaolin ceremony at the age of 17.
When Zara turned 19 and Victor was 42, they began a sexual relationship. He subsequently ended his relationship with Juliet.
Zara played the villainous Brunette Zealot, one of Dormammu's followers, in the 2016 MCU film Dr. Strange.
If you or someone you know has been the victim of child abuse, help is available through the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline. To speak to someone on the phone, dial 1-800-422-4453.
If you or someone you know has been the victim of sexual abuse or violence, help is available through the RAINN website. To speak to someone on the phone, dial 1-800-656-4673.