PA MediaTwo vulnerable schoolgirls were “easy prey” for a grooming gang who abused them “in the most humiliating and degrading way imaginable”, a court has heard.
Alleged ringleader Tahir Rashid, 54, is said to have abused both teenagers between 2003 and 2006, and also to have raped a 12-year-old girl in the late 1980s.
Rashid, of Rochdale, faces allegations in relation to all three girls and denies rape, indecent assault and assault by penetration.
Prosecutor Rossano Scamardella KC told jurors at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court the two girls were “easy prey for men with an unhealthy interest in having sex with children”.
Referred to in the court as Girl A and Girl C, Mr Scamardella said the pair were friends in Rochdale who both led “troubled lives” and were “very vulnerable children with chaotic home lives”.
Opening his case earlier, Mr Scamardella said: “Their school attendance was poor and they were often missing from home.”
“They were abused at similar times by Tahir Rashid and others who sit with him in the dock,” Mr Scamardella said.
He added the children “were passed around for sex – abused, degraded and then discarded.”
Mr Scamardella said: “The defendants were only too aware of their tender ages and the difficulties they were experiencing with day-to-day life.
He said the girls would hang around groups of Asian men at various parks, woods, at the moors or at Rochdale market and the snooker hall.
“These men preyed upon those vulnerabilities for their own perverted sexual gratification in the most humiliating and degrading way imaginable.”
‘Imbalance of power’
Mr Scamardella said: “Unprotected sex was routine. The girls were lied to about it being forbidden for Muslim men to use protection.
“These men cared not a bit about sexually transmitted diseases or unwanted pregnancies.”
The prosecutor said the pattern of the case was “common” to child sexual exploitation, adding “those who commit these offences are cunning”.
He said: “They appear affectionate and kind to the children they intend to exploit, often providing alcohol, drugs or a place to stay and at the heart of that very deliberate manipulation tactic is an imbalance of power.”
Mr Scamardella added that Rochdale and surrounding parts of Greater Manchester had been “blighted by this type of child sexual exploitation”.
‘Flashy’
Rashid’s co-defendants are charged with offences against Girl A and/or Girl C, said to have taken place on various dates between 2003 and 2006.
Mohammed Saleem, 46, of Rochdale, Sucklane Shah, 46, of no fixed abode, and Itfaq Hussain, 45, of Shawforth, all deny rape.
Arshad Mohammed, 55, of Rochdale, has entered not guilty pleas to rape and assault by penetration.
Amjad Mahmood, 53, of Rochdale – who was not in the dock – has pleaded not guilty to offences of rape, indecent assault, indecency with a child and assault by penetration.
Mr Scamardella told jurors that Rashid was “flashy” and claimed to have a series of luxury cars including a Hummer and a Range Rover, as well as two diamond encrusted rings which he said were worth £50,000 each.
The prosecutor said Rashid was aware of the ages of Girl A and Girl C because he often picked them up when they were in their school uniforms.
He said: “Mr Rashid did not care that they were underage.
“It was what he liked.”
Rashid was said to have known his earlier alleged victim, Girl B, was underage too as on one occasion he drove her to school, the court heard.
