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| Peterborough sex attacks: Two men and three teens guilty | Peterborough sex attacks: Two men and three teens guilty |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Two men and three teenage boys have been found guilty of a series of rapes and sexual assaults in Peterborough. | Two men and three teenage boys have been found guilty of a series of rapes and sexual assaults in Peterborough. |
| Zdeno Mirga, 18, Hassan Abdulla, 33, and three boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were convicted at the Old Bailey. | Zdeno Mirga, 18, Hassan Abdulla, 33, and three boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were convicted at the Old Bailey. |
| The group targeted five teenage girls and are due to be sentenced on 20 February. | The group targeted five teenage girls and are due to be sentenced on 20 February. |
| Mirga's brother Dusan, 20, David Ziga, 19, and a fourth teenager were acquitted. | Mirga's brother Dusan, 20, David Ziga, 19, and a fourth teenager were acquitted. |
| One of the group's victims, referred to in court as Victim A, was a 13-year-old girl with a severe learning disability. | |
| After a trial lasting two-and-a-half months, the five were convicted of a total of 18 counts of rape, one of causing or inciting child prostitution, one of engaging in sexual activity with a child, three of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and three of sexual assault. | |
| 'Power over her' | |
| Judge John Bevan QC said: "Because some of the defendants do not speak good enough English, despite having lived here a long time, three interpreters have worked full time during this case, at a cost of over £30,000." | |
| He told the jury: "You have sat diligently and paid the closest of attention for weeks on end. | |
| "It has been transparently obvious that you have been working very hard." | |
| He excused them from further jury service for the next 15 years. | |
| Victim A described Zdeno Mirga, known as "Skinny", as the gang's boss, prosecutor Angela Rafferty said. | |
| "He encouraged her, often very forcefully indeed, to give others... sex. | |
| "He did this using the power he had over her at the time, or threatened her and sometimes he used violence against her. | |
| "Skinny took her to parties where she was shared around sexually." | |
| The girl told police that Mirga "shared" her because he wanted money to buy cannabis and vodka, the court heard. | |
| After the verdicts, Det Supt Gary Ridgway, who led the inquiry, said the convictions were part of an ongoing "victim-led" joint investigation between Cambridgeshire Police and Peterborough City Council. | |
| 'Horrific ordeals' | |
| Officers and social workers are working to identify young people they believe are at risk of harm before any allegations are even made. | |
| Girls can then identify people who were exploiting them, he said. | |
| Speaking about this case, Det Supt Gary Ridgway said: "These girls were targeted simply because they were vulnerable. | |
| "They were seen as easy targets and exploited by this group of teenage boys and young men who abused them for their own sexual gratification." | |
| He said the girls were subjected to "horrific" ordeals. | |
| "But they have shown incredible strength throughout this process, in particular by giving evidence at court in order to bring these people to justice," he said. | |
| "We are committed to helping those girls pick up the pieces and move on with their lives." |