Mohammed Zahid, a British-Pakistani ringleader, was on Wednesday sentenced to 35 years after being found guilty of 20 offences, including rape, indecency with a child, and attempting to procure a girl into having unlawful sex.
Along with Mohammed Zahid, six others were given prison sentences totalling 174 years after a Greater Manchester Police investigation into multiple child sex offences against two girls dating back nearly 25 years, news agency PTI reported.
How Mohammed Zahid accused the two girls
Mohammed Zahid worked informally at a stall he ran in Rochdale Market in north-west England. He was convicted by Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court of grooming the two girls since they were aged 13 and then plied them with alcohol and drugs to be abused by the other men, also of Pakistani heritage.
The girls referred to him as “bossman”.
“These seven men preyed on vulnerability for their own depraved sexual gain,” said detective chief inspector Guy Laycock, Greater Manchester Police’s senior investigating officer in the case.
“The men abused, degraded and then discarded the victims when they were just children. This horrific abuse knew no limits, despite their denials throughout this lengthy investigation and court case. They had a callous disregard for these women when they were girls and continue to show no remorse for their unforgivable actions all these years later,” he said.
The Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) Organised Child Sexual Abuse Unit brought charges against Zahid along with Mushtaq Ahmed, 66, Kasir Bashir, 50, Roheez Khan, 39, Mohammed Shahzad, 43, Nisar Hussain, 41, and Naheem Akram, 48. The men received prison terms ranging from 12 to 35 years for offences committed between 2001 and 2006.
“Our Organised Child Sexual Abuse Unit, in collaboration with Greater Manchester Police, was able to use extensive evidence to build a comprehensive picture of the defendant’s offending to present to a jury who found them guilty and delivered the justice these women deserve,” said Liz Fell, Specialist Prosecutor for the CPS’ Organised Child Sexual Abuse Unit.
She added, “Both women not only gave evidence during the trial but have assisted the court further by providing Victim Personal Statements describing in tragic detail the trauma they have carried for decades, and the impact this offending has had on all parts of their lives.”
Victims came from vulnerable family situations
The court was told that the two victims, who were unknown to each other, came from vulnerable family situations and had already come to the attention of local social services. They were groomed with money and gifts and often plied with alcohol or drugs before being raped or assaulted.
Chilling details
According to prosecutors, Ahmed and Bashir targeted one of the victims, while Khan, Shahzad, Hussain, and Akram abused the other. Zahid, identified as the ringleader, abused both.
Jurors heard that Shahzad, a taxi driver, befriended one of the girls before driving her to isolated locations, where she was passed around to other taxi drivers, including Akram and Hussain, for sexual abuse.
Bravery of the victims
The CPS and Greater Manchester Police commended the bravery of the victims, noting that their consistent accounts, despite never having met, were key to securing the convictions.
Over the course of the four-month trial, prosecutors presented what they described as a “meticulously constructed” case, drawing on multiple strands of evidence to support the victims’ testimony.
Despite the defendants’ repeated denials, the weight of evidence and the credibility of the victims’ accounts led the jury to return unanimous guilty verdicts on all seven men, covering 50 offences, including 30 rapes.
