Seven men have been convicted of the sexual exploitation of two teenage schoolgirls in Rochdale.
Preying on the victims vulnerabilities, they groomed them as ‘sex slaves’ from the age of 13 in 2001 to 2006.
The two teenage girls, who had ‘deeply troubled home lives’, were given drugs, alcohol, cigarette, places to stay and people to be with, Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard.
Before long, they were expected to have sex ‘whenever and wherever’ the defendants and other men wanted in filthy flats, on old mattresses, in cars, car parks, alleyways and disused warehouses.
Jurors deliberated for three weeks before delivering their unanimous guilty verdicts today.
Three of the men, Mohammed Zahid, 64, Mushtaq Ahmed, 67, and Kasir Bashir, 50, were stallholders at Rochdale’s indoor market.
Father-of-three Zahid – known as Boss Man – gave the girls free underwear as well as money, alcohol and food in return for the expectation of regular sex with him and his friends.
Naheem Akram (Picture: GMP/PA Wire)
Nisar Hussain (Picture: GMP/PA Wire)
Mustaq Ahmed (Picture: GMP/PA Wire)
In 2016, Zahid was jailed for five years in an earlier grooming gang case after he engaged in sexual activity in 2006 with a 15-year-old girl who he met when she visited his stall to buy tights for school.
Bashir did not attend the current trial and jurors were ordered not to speculate why but it can be revealed that he absconded while on bail before the trial got under way.
It can also be reported that co-defendants Mohammed Shahzad, 44, Naheem Akram, 48, and Nisar Hussain, 41, were remanded in custody with their bail revoked in January before the jury was sworn in.
Police received intelligence that the three Rochdale-born taxi drivers were planning to leave the UK and had already paid a deposit for their transport, the court heard.
All three denied the accusation but Judge Jonathan Seely said the court was not prepared to take a risk that they too would abscond.
A seventh defendant, Pakistani-born Roheez Khan, 39, also featured in another previous Rochdale grooming trial in 2013 when he was one of five men convicted of sexually exploiting a ‘profoundly vulnerable’ 15-year-old girl in 2008 and 2009.
Kasir Bashir (Picture: GMP/PA Wire)
Roheez Khan (Picture: GMP/PA Wire)
Mohammed Shahzadn (Picture: GMP/PA Wire)
Khan was jailed for six-and-a-half years for engaging in sexual activity with a child and witness intimidation.
Victim ‘labelled prostitute by social services’
One of the victims, who is now in her 30s, told the jury that she was labelled a ‘prostitute’ by social services in Rochdale when allegations against the men first came to light.
Giving evidence in court she said: ‘They said I was a prostitute. I was prostituting myself.’
She said the language used was ‘vile’ and added: ‘I don’t remember them being concerned enough to do anything about it.
‘I remember knowing that they knew what was going on. It always happened, it was nothing new to me.
‘I assumed they all knew. The police had picked me up. It all just seemed to me everybody knew what was going on.’
The woman said she had since read her file held by Rochdale social services which stated the teenager was selling herself for sex.
One of the men convicted, Mohammed Zahid, at Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester in January (Picture: Bruce Adams/Daily Mail)
Roheez Khan, pictured outside court in January, was also convicted (Picture: Peter Byrne/PA Wire)
She said: ‘It was in my file, when I looked it up. I read it. I was picked up by the police for loitering and prostituting from the age of 10.’
She denied claims by lawyers defending the accused that she was claiming she was abused to get compensation money.
The woman, who can’t be identified for legal reasons, said it was not about money, but she wanted Rochdale social services to ‘take responsibility’.
‘Because they were the ones supposed to care for me and look after me and a lot of bad things happened,’ she said.
‘I have never been able to lead my life at all. I struggled to enjoy anything, to do anything. Depression, anxiety to the point I didn’t want to be here.’
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