Schoolgirl claims Asian grooming gang sold her for sex

• Keerthi Mohan
• 05 December, 2019

By: Keerthi Mohan

A WOMAN who was sold for sex as a schoolgirl told a Birmingham court on Wednesday (5) that her teachers did not intervene when rumours about her went around her school.

The woman said she was forced to perform sexual acts and raped when she tried to refuse the men’s advances. On one occasion she was urinated on by one of the five men on trial at Birmingham Crown Court.

The offences are said to have taken place in Telford, Shropshire when the girl was just 12.
She was sexually exploited and “passed around like a piece of meat” until in her mid-teens, taken to a flat above a Perfect Pizza shop “to have sex with Asian men”, and “lost count” of how many she was forced to sleep with, the court heard.

On Wednesday, jurors watched a video-recorded interview with the victim who said her family knew nothing at the time. But rumours went around her school, she added.

“I don’t know how people found out, but they did,” she said. “I wouldn’t say I was bullied for it, but I would get called names. It just made me keep it to myself even more.

“Even the teachers heard people saying these things and not one teacher pulled me to the side and asked me if things were all right. I was too scared to go and ask for help. But nobody said a word.”

Years after the abuse ended, she recognised photos of two alleged attackers, Mohammed Ali Sultan and Tanveer Ahmed, from press reports.

Opening the case on Monday, Michelle Heeley QC said the victim was sold for sex, first by Ahmed, who “befriended her” during a low point in her life and later by Ali Sultan.

The other men on trial are Amjad Hussain, 38, of Telford, who is accused of forcing her to perform oral sex on two separate occasions. A third man, Shafiq Younas, 35, of Wellington, near Telford, is accused of orally raping her.

Another man, Nazam Akhtar, 35, of Wellington, has been charged with rape. Mohammad Rizwan, 37, of Telford, is also on trial for allegedly forcing the girl to perform sex acts.

The men deny all the charges. The trial continues.