'Massive damage' to abuse victimsA judge condemned friends and associates of a group of men from Middlesbrough who sexually exploited girls as young as 13 after hearing the victims were subjected to continuing "appalling" abuse at school.
There was a strong police presence as members of the English Defence League gathered outside the courtroom at Teesside Crown Court where taxi driver Shakil Munir, 32, and teenagers Sakib Ahmed and his friend Ateeq Latif were being sentenced for their roles in the abuse of underage victims.
Christopher Knox, prosecuting, said the six Middlesbrough girls had suffered "considerable, ongoing damage".
He added: "Not just by what happened, but what has happened to them subsequently as a result of them having come forward."
Mr Knox said the young witnesses had been pressured during the trial by locals not to give evidence, and it was impossible to say precisely who was responsible.
"The damage to these girls has been massive," he said.
"They have been repeatedly abused at their schools. They have been subject to name calling - suggestions such as 'white trash' and being goaded in the classroom.
"Comments like 'don't touch her, she will have you done for rape' and the suggestion they have been bombarded with abusive messages on Facebook, calling them sluts and accusing them of being racist."
Mr Knox said one victim was told she "deserved everything she had got".
A support worker at one school, which cannot be identified to protect the victims' anonymity, said one of the girls had developed a "don't care attitude" which was unlike her.
Judge John Walford, who will pass sentence, said: "That the girls should be shamed is appalling but that reflects the depths of distorted, deviant thinking which is the sort of thinking which has allowed these offences to happen both here and elsewhere.
"But in fairness, can this be laid at the door of these defendants?"
Mr Knox agreed that the defendants had not "orchestrated" the backlash against the victims. "But those who perceive themselves as acting in their interest have undoubtedly done so," he said.
Munir picked up one 14-year-old in his cab and had sex with her in a lay-by late at night. The same week he took a 13-year-old to a "chill pad" for sex.
A letter was put forward on his behalf expressing the shame he had brought on his family.The judge said: "The concept of shame felt by any of these defendants sits uneasily with family, friends and associates behaving as they have done.
"One might have expected that if these defendants really took full responsibility then that feeling would have been spread amongst family, friends and associates to ensure that there was, rather than a condemnatory attitude towards these girls, a feeling of sympathy and support."
Munir was said to have 200 girls "on his phone", but he deleted their details before his arrest.
After a trial he was convicted of two counts of sexual activity with a child, relating to two victims, and abduction.
Ahmed, who worked at a pizza shop, was described as "predatory". He admitted five counts of sexual activity with a child, relating to five different girls.
He would take girls out in his silver Vauxhall Corsa and then pressure them into giving him oral sex or full intercourse.
His friend Latif, 17, was convicted of two counts of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence.
He helped Ahmed by going along with him on drives, then taking one girl away for a walk to leave his friend alone in the car with a young victim.
Two co-accused teenagers were cleared of all charges at the trial in December.
http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/no ... -1-6437125
Login
Register
FAQ
.jpg)
