Oxford: Gang who groomed and sexually abused school girl convicted

From the Oxford Mail and the BBC

A GANG of three men who groomed and sexually abused a ‘vulnerable’ school girl across Oxford have been convicted on all counts.

Mohammed Karrar, 44, Bassam Karrar, 39 and Anjum Dogar, 36, had denied 10 counts of rape, indecent assault and conspiracy to rape.

Above – Mohammed Karrar, his brother Bassam, and Anjum Dogar

A jury took just five hours and three minutes to find them guilty by a unanimous verdict at Oxford Crown Court this afternoon.

Dogar and Mohammed Karrar both took to the witness box during the trial in a bid to deny any wrong-doing. Dogar claimed one instance of abuse – at a parked car in Cutteslowe Park in which the victim was forced to perform sex acts on a number of men – was simply ‘banter’. Karrar claimed he was ‘no angel’ but told jurors he was not a paedophile or a rapist.

Despite their claims of innocence jurors found all men guilty on all counts.

The abusers, who are already in prison for similar offences, will be sentenced in January. The three men were part of a violent sex grooming ring convicted in 2013 of abusing six girls from Oxford over an eight-year period after a police operation codenamed Bullfinch.

The verdicts come after another trial ended earlier this year in which eight men were jailed for grooming a number of victims, including the victim in this case.

The verdicts in full:

Mohammed Karrar was found guilty by unanimous verdict of three counts of indecent assault, one count of rape and one count of conspiracy to rape.

Bassam Karrar was found guilty by unanimous verdict of one count of indecent assault and one count of rape.

Dogar was found guilty by unanimous verdict of one count of indecent assault, and three counts of conspiracy to rape.

After the unanimous verdicts for charges including indecent assault, conspiracy to rape and rape were read out, Mohammed Karrar clapped the jury.