Todays report from the Rhyl Journal; Girl A’s evidence merited a live feed.
A GIRL was handcuffed and raped by a Rhyl man accused of being part of a “grooming gang,” a court heard.
Mustafa Iqbal, 43, of Trellewelyn Road, is one of five on trial at Caernarfon Crown Court, concerning an alleged child trafficking and sexual exploitation conspiracy involving three female teenage complainants.
On Monday (May 11), the jury watched police interviews from one of the girls, Child A, who Iqbal is charged with raping, requiring her to perform compulsory labour, facilitating her travel with a view to exploitation, and drug supply.
In the interviews, dated May 2024, Child A said Iqbal would pick her up in a car, get her to lie down in the back of his vehicle to avoid detection, and drive him to the Gronant home of his co-defendant, Sarah Gray.
Gray, 53, of Llanasa Road, is charged with supplying Child A with drugs, assisting an offender (by allowing her house to be used by Iqbal to rape Child A), and perverting the course of justice (by washing bedding).
Child A said Iqbal bought items from a sex shop, and on one occasion, put her in handcuffs.
She added that Iqbal gave Gray crack cocaine in exchange for her letting him use her home to have sex with Child A.
Child A said she said “no” and “don’t” to Iqbal – asked how she feels about what happened, she replied: “Disgusted… it’s belittling being used like that.”
She added: “I know I said to him that I didn’t want to sleep with him… I never enjoyed it. It was really all for his benefit.
“He knew I was right. He knew he had done something wrong.”
Child A said Sarah Gray was a crack cocaine addict. She said she told Iqbal: “She (Gray) is an accomplice, in helping you do this and that to me.” she said Gray “knew what was going on,” and added: “At one point further down the line, she was defending him.”
The trial, expected to last until June, resumes on Tuesday. Child A’s police interviews will resume tomorrow.
On the same topic, different case, back in November the men in this case were committed to Crown Court Bristol for a trial expected to begin on May 5th 2026. The public domain court lists show that the trial has started but there is no information to report, other than a reminder of the Contempt of Court Act and the right of the victim to anonymity. We must let the trial take its course. Update – there is a definite reporting restriction in place, according to the Guardian.
Six men have gone on trial at Bristol crown court accused of grooming and sexually assaulting vulnerable teenage girls in the city.
The trial is expected to last 12 weeks but reporting restrictions mean full details, including the defendant’s names, cannot be revealed.
After a challenge to the restrictions by media organisations including the Guardian, Judge Macmillan, who is overseeing the trial, allowed some information about the case and the nature of the charges to be reported, acknowledging there was a public concern about “grooming gangs”.
The judge varied the existing order so that the fact of the trial, the general nature of the charges and the existence of her order could be reported.
The trial continues.
