Restaurant boss ‘groomed girls as young as 12 and showered them with gifts’, court heard

From the Mirror and the Peterborough Telegraph

A restaurant boss groomed girls as young as 12 with gifts including fast food, cash and flowers, before plying them with booze, a court has heard. Married Mohammed Khubaib, 43, had an almost predatory interest in underage girls but claimed to be their friend, a jury was told.

He allegedly raped a girl of 14 after giving her booze, while his friend Manase Motaung, 32, is said to have raped a 16-year-old.

Khubaib usually gave his alleged victims vodka. He took one to McDonald’s, gave her a £40 bunch of flowers for her 15th birthday and said he wanted to marry her, the Old Bailey heard.

He told another 15-year-old she had beautiful eyes but when she said he was too old for her, he allegedly replied: “Age doesn’t matter.”

But one girl, who was just 15 when she first met Khubaib, today (Mon) told how she turned the tables on the married restaurant owner after refusing his indecent proposal. The girl, who cannot be named, said Khubaib offered her £60 if she went to a house with him there and then.

He allegedly told her: ‘You make me happy, I’ll give you money.’ In a recorded interview she said: ‘He thought because he’s got that many girls, I didn’t know whether he thought “I have got them, I can get more”.

‘I was not having any of it. He made me feel sick. It is disgusting how people can think of that.’

Despite her refusal, Khubaib, who owned the former Peterborough restaurant ‘Zaika’, repeated the offer around two weeks later, this time offering £90, it is alleged.

‘He was, like, the offer’s still there,’ the girl said. Khubaib then allegedly said: ‘You know you want to, all the other girls love it.’

Khubaib is standing trial alongside Manase Motaung, 32 for rape and child sex trafficking of girls aged between 12 and 16. Khubaib, of Cambridge Avenue, Peterborough, denies 11 counts of trafficking for sexual exploitation, and one count of rape.