Little girl groomed, raped and abused by multiple men, court told

From the Huddersfield Examiner

A vulnerable little girl was groomed, raped and abused by multiple men throughout her childhood starting from the age of 11, a jury has heard. 

The victim was targeted in Huddersfield ‘by men who wanted to use her for their own sexual purposes’, prosecutors told Leeds Crown Court on Monday.

It was said that the girl was ‘alone in the world’ and had no ability to make decisions about sex when she was groomed.

Opening the trial of Huddersfield men Mohammed Akram and Usman Khalid, Richard Wright QC, prosecuting, told the jury: “We say that both of the men in the dock had sexual contact with her when she was just 12 and they knew how old she was. They each, on separate occasions, took her out of the children’s home where she was living without permission and with a sinister, ultimately sexually motivated, purpose.”

“This case concerns her childhood when, as you will hear – and it is important that you understand that there is no dispute about this – she was raped and abused by multiple men over several years. That abuse began when she could properly be described as a little girl.”

Usman Khalid (LEFT) Mohammed Akram (RIGHT)

Akram and Khalid went on trial on Monday along with two women – Shahnaz Malik, 57, of St Anne’s Avenue, Huddersfield, and Naveeda Habeeb, 40, of Prince Wood Lane, Huddersfield – who are both charged with child cruelty.

left Naveeda Habib, right Shahnaz Malik

Akram, 33, of Springdale Street, Huddersfield, denies five counts of rape, sexual assault, abducting a child and trafficking for sexual exploitation.

Khalid, 31, of Brook Street, Huddersfield, denies sexual assault and child abduction.

The trial is expected to last two weeks.