Islam versus Europe

A girl aged 13 thought that she was in love but was raped twice by men who were grooming and controlling child prostitutes, a court heard yesterday.

Ahdel Ali, 23, is said to have given the child vodka and cannabis before having sex with her even though she asked him to stop. Mohammed Ali Sultan, 24, allegedly slapped her and made her cry before raping her in his car.

The two men are among nine defendants, aged from 21 to 59, on trial at Stafford Crown Court accused of grooming and sexually exploiting seven vulnerable teenagers aged from 13 to 17. Some were allegedly sold for sex to dozens of men.

All the girls and their alleged abusers lived in the small town of Wellington, near Telford, Shropshire.

Deborah Gould, for the prosecution, told the jury that the 13-year-old was introduced to Mr Ali, then 20, by her elder sister in 2008. He “deliberately targeted this girl who was young, naive and vulnerable.

“What possible interest could a 20-year-old working man in a traditional Pakistani household . . . have in a 13-year-old schoolgirl? Their lives, cultural backgrounds, ages and interests were wholly incompatible.”

Miss Gould said that the girl met Mr Ali on a number of occasions when he gave her cannabis and talked about sex. He knew her age and called her “13”. One day he took her for a car ride before parking and asking if she wanted to have sex.

The child said that he proceeded to pull down her clothes and rape her. She told him it hurt and asked him “to get off her” but he “carried on going”.

“[The girl] described vividly how vulnerable she was at this time: she thought she was in love [with Mr Ali] and she wanted some love at that time of her life, to feel that someone cared for her and she thought, because he was showing her affection, it was real.”

One text message she sent to Mr Ali read: “I hope you do like me.” Miss Gould said that the girl had known the second man, Mohammed Ali Sultan, since she was 12. A year later, he phoned and asked her to meet him. When she was in his car, he demanded sex. She refused, but he slapped her and made her cry. He then got on top of her and raped her.

Mr Ali Sultan is also accused of having sex with a 15-year-old girl after inviting her and a friend to have a drink at his cousin’s house, where they were given vodka, cider and cannabis.

Her friend said that to enter the house the girls were asked to go down an alleyway and were lifted over the rear garden fence.

The secrecy was because “Asians can’t hang around with white people”. The court heard that another girl, aged 15, was groomed by Tanveer Ahmed, 39, who sold her to other men to earn cash for petrol, gambling and the price of a takeaway pizza. He is said to have had sex with the girl regularly, paying for her sexual services with cannabis, alcohol and cigarettes. Miss Gould said that Mr Ahmed, who was married, “began to . . . pimp her out”. The girl told police that one day he “had no money to drive her back home . . . so he sold her to three men who worked at the Bengali restaurant . . . to get the petrol money”.
“They had to wait until the men finished work and [Mr Ahmed] drove her and the men to a flat above a fish and chip shop. Each of the three men had sex with her. She received none of the money but thought he made about £100 from selling her. She saw the money being handed over. She was given some cigarettes.”

Mr Ahmed is said to have introduced the girl to Mohammed Islam Choudhrey, 52. The first time that she had sex with him “she felt dirty . . . because he was so old”.
The next day, Mr Choudhrey took her to Manchester “to meet another girl, aged 16, that he was having sex with”. Over a period of months, he allegedly paid her for sex on several occasions.

One day, the girl and a friend went with Mr Ahmed to a flat owned by Mohammed Younis, 59.
The prosecution claims that his flat and a nearby house owned by Abdul Rouf, 34, “were being used in effect as brothels, places where men could have sex . . . with young females”.

Miss Gould said that the two girls “were discussing food and how hungry they were”. Mr Ahmed phoned Mr Choudhrey and invited him to the flat. When he arrived, Mr Ahmed told one of the teenagers to go upstairs with him.The girl returned with some money after ten minutes. Mr Ahmed, meanwhile, “having organised a punter . . . and therefore a source of money, telephoned and ordered a pizza”.

In total, the nine defendants deny 55 offences linked to child sex and child prostitution.
The trial continues.