Man guilty of repeatedly raping runaway Birmingham girl, 16, who was shared around in hotel room

This trial at Crown Court Birmingham, which started last month, ended this week with convictions. From the Birmingham Mail

Four men have been found guilty over a vulnerable 16-year-old girl who was exploited, sexually assaulted and raped after being picked up in Birmingham.

The victim, who had run away from home, got into Arqash Zaffar’s BMW on Alum Rock Road in July 2019. She alleged he raped her multiple times over the next few days, including in a hotel room full of men who took turns abusing her.

Mohammed Nadim, who was in Zaffar’s car when he picked her up, groped her in the back of the vehicle.He was also accused of trying to get her to kiss him while exposing himself. The 45-year-old, from Wednesbury Road, Walsall, disputed the actions but was found guilty of sexual assault

Mr Clark, prosecuting, said: “After his arrest he was told the car he had driven to the station would be searched. He was recorded as saying ‘you can search my car, you can search my yard, you ain’t going to find my phone if that’s what you are after. I ain’t been to no hotels, the girl was picked up by bredrin and took home’.”

Nadim answered no comment in his interview. Giving evidence at trial he told the court that, when he first encountered the girl on Alum Rock Road, his friend Zaffar asked her if she ‘would like to come and chill’.

He added that she ‘definitely’ claimed she was aged 20.

Shahban Arif made arrangements for her to be housed in a hotel in Walsall. And fourth defendant Shiraz Nassar raped the girl in his flat in Manchester, after Zaffar had driven her there in the middle of the night.

A jury convicted the four men of various offences following a five-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court . . . All four defendants accepted being in the girl’s company but denied the offences.

Zaffar, 41, from Persehouse Street, Walsall, was found guilty of five counts of rape, four of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent and one of arranging the travel of another person with a view to exploitation.

Shahban Arif, 42, of Holden Crescent, Walsall, was found guilty of a single exploitation offence.

Shiraz Nassar, 40, from Fir Road, Denton in Manchester, was convicted of one charge of rape. Sentencing was adjourned until March 19 next year.