Seven men convicted of a string of child sex abuse offences were faced down by a survivor of their sick abuse in court today.
A victim of the Rotherham child abuse scandal gave a powerful victim impact statement, addressing all of the defendants in the dock as she told them “I am your karma.”
The defendants arrived individually, waving to their families in the public gallery.
Some of the men greeted each other in the dock and an Urdu interpreter sat with one of the defendants.
Seven men convicted of a string of child sex abuse offences were faced down by a survivor of their sick abuse in court today
NCA
The lead prosecuting barrister, Nicholas Lumley, briefly summarised the case, detailing how the complainants were young at the time of the offending, saying they were “preyed upon” by each of the defendants.
He described how they were groomed and aggressively forced to engage in sexual activities.
The defendants denied the acts, some even denied knowing the complainants, with the women having to be cross-examined in the trial.
Sheffield Crown Court heard that the victims had to time and again carry out identification procedures, confronting each man one by one to confirm their identity.
During the nine-week trial that concluded in June, the court heard that two Rotherham teenage girls were put through “dehumanising” abuse.
The “harrowing” ordeal took place in the early 2000s, with the girls - who were aged between 11 and 16 at the time - were groomed while in care.
The court heard that they were often given alcohol and drugs before being sexually abused.
The abusers often collected the girls from children’s homes at the South Yorkshire town.
They were abused across the town, including a cemetery, a supermarket car park, and even behind a children’s nursery.
Sheffield Crown Court heard how the girls were locked inside their abuser’s homes, with one girl once escaping via a window after being raped.
A nine-week trial concluded in June, finding seven men guilty of a range of child sex abuse crimes.
Mohammed Amar, 42, Yasser Ajaibe, 39; Mohammed Zameer Sadiq, 49; Mohammed Siyab, 49; Abid Saddiq, 43; Tahir Yasin, 38 and Ramin Bari, 37, will all be sentenced tomorrow.
Addressing those men in the dock, one of the two survivors from the case gave a victim impact statement.
She said: “When the abuse first started, at 11, I wanted to be friends and to be accepted. I followed a crowd and would copy what they were doing.”
She added that her abuse started at a “primary school playground,” where she met them.
“I was only 11, you made me do a test to see if I was still a virgin or not. At that moment, my abuse started, you made it sound like it was a crime to be a virgin.
“You made me feel ashamed of being a virgin. That same day you sent me off and forced me to commit a sexual act.
“My innocence was stolen,” she added, saying she felt “sick and disgusted.”
She continued: “I knew it was wrong, but I wanted to belong somewhere, you monsters took advantage of my vulnerabilities.
“You started to pass me around as if I was a fresh piece of meat, man to man, city to city. All five of you played a massive part in exploiting me.
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The survivors arrived to Sheffield Crown Court to give their impact statements
GOOGLE STREET VIEW“You raped, abused, and trafficked me around England for your own sick and twisted sexual satisfaction.”
Speaking directly to Yasser Ajaib, she said: “Yasser, you didn’t play a big part in what happened to me. I didn’t even class you as one of my main perpetrators. You are still one of my abusers.
“You took me behind a nursery to perform a sex act. What you did was as equally as sick and wrong.”
She continued: “While I was still 11, it was only sexual acts I would have to commit. Not long after my 12th birthday, I was then raped, and that’s when my exploitation really kicked off.”
She then addressed another rapist in the dock, describing one of the acts of her abuse.
“My little childlike body. I was 12, in the back of a taxi. To you it didn’t last long, to me it lasted like a lifetime. I was scared.”
She continued: “When you raped me, you made sure you did it properly. I’ve never felt pain like that before in my life.
“You made me bleed. I was so scared to even go to the toilet. You made sure my abuse went to the next level. You made sure it was a free for all.
"If the free drinks, cigarettes, drugs didn’t make me do as I was told, you would take my phone and drive me around England.”
She added that one of the abusers would “threaten to leave me miles from home.”
“You would even become violent when I refused.”
The survivor, speaking with the support of her mother in the court, said: “I don’t want to give you too much of my time, you’ve already had all of my childhood and the majority of my adulthood.
“What I am going to do is tell you how your abuse affected me and still does today.
“I was addicted to drugs and alcohol because of what you did. I self-harmed and tried to commit suicide on several occasions.
“Was I groomed or was I slag like they said I was? For years, I believed I was the slag. I was just a child, not a slag, nor was I a problem child. I was vulnerable and screaming for help.
“For years I’ve suffered and still do with flash backs, or I'll get a whiff of one of my abusers' smells and sometimes I still hear your laughs as you raped me. I wake up screaming from nightmares, even when I'm highly medicated this still happens.”
She continued: “You took my childhood, my innocence, my freedom, my family. I was forced into children’s homes because of what you did to me.
“Those homes didn’t protect me as they should have, in fact it made it even easier for you to take me. I was 12, yet it was okay for you to carrying on abusing me.”
Speaking from notes, she looked directly at those sitting in the dock and said: “By the time I was 16, I had been abused by over 150 men. My education became nonexistent. I was violent and angry with the world.
“My mum was screaming for help, I didn’t know how to stop it. I lost trust in everyone around me.”
The abuse took place in the 2000s in Rotherham
Wikipedia
She continued: “You ruined my life but I won’t let you ruin my future. I’m a fighter and a survivor. I’m thriving and fighting. You can’t and won’t ever take anything from me again.”
Closing her emotional statement, the survivor said: “22 years ago, you first started grooming me, and 10 years ago I started my justice fight.
“You stole my childhood, now I’m taking your freedom, I am your karma.”
The second survivor's victim impact statement was delivered by a prosecuting barrister as she watched on via video link.
She said: "All of you came into my life when I was at my most vulnerable, you all made me feel wanted, loved and part of something, something I craved. Life started to feel good, I felt as if I belonged, I was made to feel like I was pretty, like I was a somebody.
"What I did not realise, as a vulnerable child, was that you all had ulterior motives, you all befriended me for reasons it would take me years to understand.
"If I am truly honest, it has only been the last nine years that I have fully understood the harm you all caused."
The statement continued: "You manipulated and brainwashed me, why did you all do that to me? I was a vulnerable child, you... made me think I was your girlfriend, you told me you were my boyfriend. I was vulnerable, I was lonely, I was a child and you raped me repeatedly."
Addressing another defendant, she said: "You imprisoned me for hours on end, you locked me in an attic and took away my clothes.
"You used me to satisfy your own twisted sexual desires, you raped me.
"It is not normal, it is derogative and down right disgusting to lay hands upon a child in any way, let alone to rape, beat and lock them away so there is no escape."
The court heard the closing of her statement: "I am a survivor and I am a fighter. I will continue to be strong and continue to seek justice, I am now in control of my life.
"In the coming years I hope you feel as lonely, frightened and isolated as I have felt. You violated and humiliated me when I was a vulnerable child, now it's your turn to feel as I did."
The men were investigated as part of the National Crime Agency’s Operation Stovewood, which was launched in 2014 after a report by social worker Alexis Jay exposed a widespread child abuse crisis in Rotherham, with over 1,400 children sexually abused, predominantly by British-Pakistani men.
Over 33 people have now been convicted of offences by NCA officers in the operation, which is looking into historic abuse during the same period of the report.
Stovewood is the largest investigation of its kind in Britain, with more than 1,150 potential victims identified, hundreds of arrests made, and dozens of convictions.
Previously, gangs of five or six men have been convicted after Stovewood probes, but this upcoming sentencing represents the largest single set of prosecutions by the NCA.
There was another Stovewood investigation that resulted in 13 convictions, but it was split over two trials for logistical purposes – they couldn’t realistically deal with them all at once at court.
But this set of convictions — the product of a five-year investigation — is certainly the largest successful prosecution in the last few years.