A young girl was groomed to be raped by gangs of men in the basement of a shop 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 how the girl fell pregnant after alleged repeated rapes. The defendants deny all charges against them.
The court heard that Child A was first introduced to Mohammed Zahid, who then introduced her to Mushtaq Ahmed, who owned a shop in Rochdale.
The court heard that she was forbidden from going to the store when the shop was open because of the attention it would draw to their behaviour, “so she would often have to wait near the Town Hall until such time as it was safe to go there.”
Jurors were told that the girl would get the bus or would get picked up and then be “taken to the grim, cold, dark basement” in the shop, where she would be expected to have sex with them.”
Prosecutor Mr Rossano Scarmadella KC told Manchester Crown Court: “The basement had in it a mattress, which she described as having an awful smell, probably because it was dirty, never washed and used for sex with children.
“She would have to go into the basement and take off her clothes and wait on the mattress.” He then described how she would be forced to have oral and vaginal sex with both Zahid and Ahmed.
“Once one of them had finished, he would leave her naked on the mattress where she was required to wait for the other to come downstairs and treat her in precisely the same way,” said Scarmadella.
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The prosecution said that there was another man who worked in the shop who she was forced to have sex with in the basement, but she never learned his name and his identity remains unknown.
The child was also taken to an address in nearby Chadderton, where she was expected to have sex with up to five men in one occasion.
Jurors heard that she was raped by three of the defendants at this location: Zahid, Ahmed and Kasir Bashir.
In one incident, the prosecution said that Child A specifically recalled another occasion when she was forced to have with Bashir as he was a huge man.
The barrister said: “His sheer physical size was too much for her child’s body and she complained how much it hurt when he lay on top of her and penetrated her with his penis.
“She described him as ‘as heavy as anything and over six feet tall’ which her … frame would have been no match for.”
“Sex with him was such an ordeal that she remembers lying on the single bed, not moving, closing her eyes and praying for it to be over. She told police ‘I just wanted it done’.”
In return for being raped, the child was given between £5 and £8 pounds and some cigarettes, which the prosecution said was only enough money to get home.
The court heard that during this period of regularly being abused by several men, she became pregnant. Scarmadella KC said that when one of the men was informed by Child A about the pregnancy he “could not have cared less that this girl … might be carrying his child.”
He added: “She was wrong to have expected anything else from a man, who along with his friends, raped her at will.” The prosecution said that some of those alleged rapists had never been identified during the police investigation.
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 trial continues.
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On the opening day of a trial expected to last up to 12 weeks, Manchester Crown Court heard in the prosecution's opening case how the girl fell pregnant after alleged repeated rapes. The defendants deny all charges against them.
The court heard that Child A was first introduced to Mohammed Zahid, who then introduced her to Mushtaq Ahmed, who owned a shop in Rochdale.
The court heard that she was forbidden from going to the store when the shop was open because of the attention it would draw to their behaviour, “so she would often have to wait near the Town Hall until such time as it was safe to go there.”
Jurors were told that the girl would get the bus or would get picked up and then be “taken to the grim, cold, dark basement” in the shop, where she would be expected to have sex with them.”
Prosecutor Mr Rossano Scarmadella KC told Manchester Crown Court: “The basement had in it a mattress, which she described as having an awful smell, probably because it was dirty, never washed and used for sex with children.
“She would have to go into the basement and take off her clothes and wait on the mattress.” He then described how she would be forced to have oral and vaginal sex with both Zahid and Ahmed.
“Once one of them had finished, he would leave her naked on the mattress where she was required to wait for the other to come downstairs and treat her in precisely the same way,” said Scarmadella.
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The prosecution said that there was another man who worked in the shop who she was forced to have sex with in the basement, but she never learned his name and his identity remains unknown.
The child was also taken to an address in nearby Chadderton, where she was expected to have sex with up to five men in one occasion.
Jurors heard that she was raped by three of the defendants at this location: Zahid, Ahmed and Kasir Bashir.
In one incident, the prosecution said that Child A specifically recalled another occasion when she was forced to have with Bashir as he was a huge man.
The barrister said: “His sheer physical size was too much for her child’s body and she complained how much it hurt when he lay on top of her and penetrated her with his penis.
“She described him as ‘as heavy as anything and over six feet tall’ which her … frame would have been no match for.”
“Sex with him was such an ordeal that she remembers lying on the single bed, not moving, closing her eyes and praying for it to be over. She told police ‘I just wanted it done’.”
In return for being raped, the child was given between £5 and £8 pounds and some cigarettes, which the prosecution said was only enough money to get home.
The court heard that during this period of regularly being abused by several men, she became pregnant. Scarmadella KC said that when one of the men was informed by Child A about the pregnancy he “could not have cared less that this girl … might be carrying his child.”
He added: “She was wrong to have expected anything else from a man, who along with his friends, raped her at will.” The prosecution said that some of those alleged rapists had never been identified during the police investigation.
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 trial continues.
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