Two girls were “ruthlessly” abused, degraded and sexually exploited at the hands of grooming gangs of men in Rochdale, a court has heard.
On the opening day of a trial expected to last up to 12 weeks, Manchester Crown Court heard in the prosecution’s opening case that the vulnerable girls endured “appalling” treatment at the hands of the alleged perpetrators.
Those standing trial are accused of committing the alleged offences, between 2001 and 2006, including 43 counts of rape.
The defendants are Naheem Akram, 48, of Rochdale; Mohammed Shazad, 43, of Rochdale; Nisar Hussain, 43, of Rochdale; Mohammed Zahid, 64, of Crumpsall, Manchester; Roheez Khan, 39, of Rochdale; Arfan Khan, 40, of Rochdale; Mustaq Ahmed, 66, of Oldham and Kasir Bashir, 50, of Oldham. They have denied all charges.
The defendants, the court heard, were “split into two groups”: those linked to the market in Rochdale where ‘bossman’ Mohammed Zahid worked; and those who worked as taxi drivers.
Zahid, who was in his mid-40s during the time of the alleged abuse, sold lingerie at his market in Rochdale and it is alleged that he raped one of the victims while she was in her school uniform.
The defendants were said to have allegedly abused the girls in alleyways, warehouses, taxis, in “filthy houses or flats” in a “grim and sordid existence”.
The prosecution said that both victims were vulnerable and deeply troubled when they suffered at the hands of the eight defendants.
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The accused were said to be aware of their “tender ages” and their daily difficulties.
Rossano Scamardella KC, for the prosecution, said: “It was obvious that they craved the attention that their home lives and families did not provide, which made them easy prey for older men to exploit.”
The court heard that the girls were groomed by groups of men at various parks, woods, at the Moors, or at Rochdale market and the snooker hall.
The grooming transformed into sexual exploitation, the prosecution said, with the girls being “expected to have sex with these men and others, whenever and wherever the men wanted”.
The prosecutor said: “They were often forced to have oral sex and vaginal sex with multiple men on the same day, in filthy flats and on rancid mattresses.”
Describing the abuse the girls allegedly faced, the prosecuting barrister said that the girls were “lied to about it being forbidden for Muslim men to use protection,” so the men would often ejaculate in their mouths or inside them.
Prosecutor Mr Scarmadella KC said: “These men cared not a bit about sexually transmitted diseases or unwanted pregnancies.”
He said that one of the victims conceived a baby, at the hands of one of her alleged rapists.
On one occasion, one of the victims was plied with alcohol to the point of extreme intoxication before a “glass bottle was inserted into her vagina,” the court heard.
The court heard that this incident was filmed and that the victim was threatened with the footage being “distributed” unless she had sex with other men.
But the footage was distributed, even after she had sex with the men, and the court said it reached her family.
“She remains terrified to this day that it still exists somewhere.”
The court also heard that both girls were well known to social services and other agencies, who were aware of their ordeal.
But the prosecution said that “no reports were made to the police and nothing was done”.
Mr Scarmadella KC added: “No action was taken to stop what was happening to these two girls or to stop other similarly vulnerable girls suffering the same fate.”
Six defendants were present in the dock, with Mohammed Shazad being excused due to a doctor’s appointment. Kasir Bashir did not appear in court and no explanation has been given for his absence.
Three of the defendants had interpreters.
The trial, before His Honour Judge Jonathan Seely, has been brought via Greater Manchester Police’s Operation Lytton investigation into non-recent child sex offences.
The trial continues.