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Rotherham grooming victim was used to settle abuser's debts, jury told Rotherham grooming victim abused daily and used to settle debts, jury told
(about 2 hours later)
One of the teenage victims of a major grooming ring uncovered by police in Rotherham was forced into sexual relations with men on an almost daily basis and used as a commodity to settle her abuser’s debts, a court has heard. A teenage girl abused by the Rotherham grooming ring was forced into daily sexual relations with men for years and used as a commodity to settle her abuser’s debts, a court has heard.
The girl, who was in and out of care from the age of 12, was allegedly taken around the country and made to perform sexual acts on many men, becoming pregnant twice, once when she was only 14. The girl, who was in and out of care from the age of 12, was allegedly taken around the country and made to perform sexual acts up to three times a day on different men, becoming pregnant twice, once when she was only 14.
She had just turned 16 and was still in the care of the local authority when she was forced into sexual relations on almost a daily basis, the jury was told. She terminated the first pregnancy but later gave birth to a boy who was looked after by her mother. She had just turned 16, and was still in local authority care, when her abuse became a daily occurrence, the jury was told. She terminated the first pregnancy but later gave birth to a boy who was looked after by her mother.
The girl is one of 12 allegedly groomed in a child sexual exploitation ring led by seven people, including two sets of brothers and two women, who are accused of 51 counts of abuse at Sheffield crown court. The girl is one of 12 allegedly groomed in a child sexual exploitation ring led by seven people, including two sets of brothers and two women, who between them are accused of 51 counts of abuse including rape, indecent assault, false imprisonment, abduction and procurement of girls for prostitution or for sex with another.
They are accused of historical child sexual exploitation stretching back almost 30 years against the girls, several of whom were in care or vulnerable and in unsettled homes. All of the girls were vulnerable to grooming and predatory behaviour, with unstable family backgrounds. “Some had unsettled home lives, had suffered previous ill treatment or abuse and some were in local authority care,” said prosecutor Michelle Colborne QC.
The jury heard on Thursday that one of the girls was just 12 years old when she was abused, while the grooming of another victim started with treats of “sweets and pop” and progressed to gifts of perfume and a mobile phone. Another was forced into prostitution. They were deliberately “targeted, sexualised and in some instances subjected to acts of a degrading and violent nature”, she said, adding that one girl was so terrified of her alleged abuser, Basharat Hussain, she feared for her life.
The catalogue of alleged abuse, which spanned more than a decade from 1990 to 2003, was said to have been masterminded by Arshid Hussain, 40, who is facing 29 counts relating to nine of the 12 girls. The court heard that he passed the lead victim to his brother and friends and arranged her abuse in flats, garages and houses in the Rotherham area and in London. The jury heard on Thursday that one of the girls was 12 when she was first abused, while the grooming of another alleged victim started with treats of “sweets and pop” and progressed to gifts of perfume and a mobile phone.
The violence allegedly became regular and no one in the victim’s care home expressed concern when she returned bloodied or shaken from encounters with the defendants, prosecutor Michelle Colborne QC told the jury. The catalogue of alleged abuse, which spanned more than a decade from 1990 to 2003, was said to have been masterminded by Basharat’s brother, Arshid Hussain, 40, who is facing 29 counts relating to nine girls. The court heard that he passed the lead victim to his brother and friends and arranged her abuse in flats, garages and houses in the Rotherham area and in London.
Colborne said the victim recalled that on one occasion she ran away from Hussain but he caught her and bundled her into the boot of a car and set off to a house in Tottenham, north London, where she was asked to have sex or engage in oral sex with five men, all in their 20s. The violence against her allegedly became regular and no one in the victim’s care home expressed concern when she returned bloodied or shaken from encounters, the jury was told. On one occasion, it is alleged she was bundled into the boot of a car and taken to a house in Tottenham, north London, where she was abused by five men, all in their 20s.
“Afterwards she was driven back to Rotherham and Mad Ash told her he loved her,” said Colborne. She was not the only girl in care who was preyed on by Hussain, his brother and the five other defendants in the dock. “Afterwards she was driven back to Rotherham and ‘Mad Ash’ [Arshid Hussein] told her he loved her,” said Colborne. She tried to say no to the abuse, but eventually knew that to resist was to invite more violence and “protracted” attacks, the court heard.
Colborne added that the seven targeted 12 girls who were all local and some of them in care. “Some had unsettled home lives, had suffered previous ill treatment or abuse, and some were in local authority care when they were befriended by and subsequently groomed by the defendants,” she said, opening the case at Sheffield crown court. “She was beaten, had a cigarette stubbed out on her chest, she was tied up, she was raped from a very young age, often by numerous men, one after the other, at the say-so of Arshid Hussain. She was insecure and vulnerable and believed he was her boyfriend,” said Colborne. “He passed her to his brother and friends, and over time gave her as payment to men for debts he owed.”
In differing ways the seven defendants were all said to have “facilitated the sexual abuse of teenage girls”. Directly addressing the most severely abused victim, named as Girl B in the case, the prosecutor added: “Initially she attempted to say no but was always beaten if she refused and quickly learned to give in to his demands. Also in the dock were brothers Sajid Bostan, 38, and Majid Bostan, 37, associates of the Hussain brothers, and two women, Karen MacGregor, 58, and Shelley Davies, 40, who associated with one another and with Ali and Arshid Hussain. All seven deny the charges.
“She was beaten, had a cigarette stubbed out on her chest, she was tied up, she was raped orally, vaginally and anally from a very young age, often by numerous men, one after the other, at the say-so of Arshid Hussain. She was insecure and vulnerable and believed he was her boyfriend. One connecting feature in the case is a minicab firm, Speedline Taxis, owned by the Hussain’s uncle and co-defendant, Qurban Ali. MacGregor worked there as a radio operator and one of the victims said the Hussain brothers visited the office regularly.
“[Hussain] was domineering and in some instances brutal in his treatment of girls. He used them for his own gratification,” said Colborne. “He was assisted in differing ways by the other defendants, each willingly engaging in exploitative behaviour and using the girls to their own ends.” The jury heard how Arshid and Basharat plied some of the girls with alcohol or drugs after initially befriending them. They then dominated and controlled them and subjected them to horrific abuse.
The jury heard that Hussain was involved with his brother, Basharat, 38, and a third defendant, Qurban Ali, 53, who was their uncle. Arshid Hussain was known by the girls as “Mad Ash” while his uncle, who walked into the dock with a white stick, was nicknamed “Blind Ash”, she said. Jurors also heard that five of the girls became pregnant through the abuse, two of them twice and two of them aged just 14. Both had a termination the first time but gave birth the second time.
Also in the dock are brothers Sajid Bostan, 38, and Majid Bostan, 37, associates of the Hussain brothers, and two women, Karen MacGregor, 58, and Shelley Davies, 40, who associated with one another and with Ali and Arshid Hussain. All seven deny the charges. When one of the victims got pregnant she was persuaded by Basharat to have an abortion. “He told her Ash [Arshid] had children with seven English women already,” said Colborne.
One connecting feature in the case is a minicab firm – Speedline Taxis, owned by Ali and where MacGregor worked as a radio operator. One of the victims said Ali’s nephews, the Hussain brothers, used to visit there regularly. The jury heard the final victim “suffered years of mental and physical cruelty”. She was 15 when she met Basharat Hussain, then 24, and they quickly started having sex. Her mother was unhappy about the relationship and would confiscate her phone, but Basharat would replace it. “He would habitually be violent. He would slap, punch, kick and spit at her,” Colborne said.
The jury heard that two of the girls were forced into prostitution over the years and several were subjected to violence, sometimes extreme violence. One “lived in fear” that she would be seriously harmed or killed. At one stage he became angry with her and called her a “slag”. He told her he had shovels in the boot of his car and she could dig her own grave, the prosecution said.
Five of them became pregnant through the abuse, two of them twice. Both had a termination the first time round but gave birth the second time – both had boys. The girl went to the police on numerous occasions and asked to go into the witness protection programme, but Hussain allegedly told her he had a paid mole in the force and knew all about her plans, which she then abandoned.
Finishing her opening speech, Colborne told how the final victim suffered years of mental and physical cruelty. She was 15 years old when she met Basharat Hussain, then 24, and they quickly started having sex. Her mother was unhappy about the relationship and would confiscate her phone, but Basharat would replace it. “He would habitually be violent. He would slap, punch, kick and spit at her,” Colborne said. Another victim said she was taken to a house that was run like a brothel. She recognised one of the men there “as an MP or councillor from Rotherham” who she believed was “related to one of the defendants”.
At one stage he had shovels in the boot of his car and told her she could dig her own grave, the prosecution says.
The girl went to the police on numerous occasions and asked to go on the witness protection programme, but Hussain told her he had a paid mole in the force and knew all about her plans, which she then abandoned.
The trial is the first to take place since the Jay report into child exploitation in the Rotherham area was published last year.The trial is the first to take place since the Jay report into child exploitation in the Rotherham area was published last year.
Explaining how the grooming allegedly worked, Colborne told the jury that one of the alleged victims, Girl A, lived in “squalid conditions” in the 1980s and was befriended by Davies, who was just three years older and took her to stay at MacGregor’s house. Girl A thought the house was “posh” and “she was made to feel welcome and was fed and clothed”.Explaining how the grooming allegedly worked, Colborne told the jury that one of the alleged victims, Girl A, lived in “squalid conditions” in the 1980s and was befriended by Davies, who was just three years older and took her to stay at MacGregor’s house. Girl A thought the house was “posh” and “she was made to feel welcome and was fed and clothed”.
The prosecution said “there would always be Asian men in the house in the early hours”. One of these men was Blind Ash, it is alleged. A couple of nights after she moved in she was assaulted by an Asian man, the jury was told. The prosecution said “there would always be Asian men in the house in the early hours” and abuse soon started.
Colborne said Girl A was plied with vodka in the company of MacGregor, Davies and about six men and was then taken upstairs where her lower clothing was removed entirely and she was assaulted by an unknown man. She cried for help twice and he ran from the room but no one came to her aid, the court was told. The girl, who was between 15 and 17 years old at the time and is now 43, told no one about the incident until she reported it this year after seeing allegations about the case in the press and on Facebook, the court heard.
Girl A, who was between 15 and 17 years old at the time and is now 43, told no one about the incident until she reported it this year after seeing allegations about the defendant in the press and on Facebook, the court head.
MacGregor accepted she knew Davies and Blind Ash but denied bringing girls to her house. The prosecution said she was not the kind of woman she claimed to be, helping vulnerable girls, but she had “deliberately set out to make girls available for sexual encounters with older men”.
The trial continues.The trial continues.