I missed the beginning of this trial when it opened in the Crown Court Birmingham last week.
From the Birmingham Mail who have reported every few days
A “vulnerable” 16-year-old girl who had run away from home was repeatedly raped in a hotel
room full of men, a court heard. Arqash Zaffar, nicknamed ‘Mikey’, has been accused of picking up the girl in his car in Birmingham and exploiting her over a number of days during the summer of 2019.
It is alleged his friend Shiraz Nassar, known as ‘Soldier’, also raped her after she was taken to his home in Manchester while another associate Mohammed Nadim, aka ‘Dimma’, allegedly sexually assaulted the girl in the back of a car.
A fourth defendant Shahban Arif, identified as a man with a ‘rat-like face’, was said to have been involved in her exploitation by booking a hotel room in Walsall where she was attacked.
Opening the case on Tuesday, November 11, prosecutor Tim Clark KC said: “She was a vulnerable teenager – she was known to social services.
“She had been reported missing from her home on a number of occasions. One of those occasions when she had gone missing was beween July 11 and August 12, 2019. The Crown’s case is she spent some of that time in the company of these four men. It’s the Crown’s case three of these defendants, Zaffar, Nadim and Nassar either sexually exploited her themselves or were present when she was sexually assaulted. Zaffar and Arif were involved in her exploitation sexually by others.”
The jury was told the girl only knew the defendants by their nicknames, apart from Arif who has been designated the nickname ‘rat’ based on the girl describing him as having a ‘rat-like face’.
Mr Clark said when she returned home on August 12, 2019 she disclosed the allegations to her social worker who observed she was ‘extremely upset’. He said the girl ‘felt dirty’ and asked to be taken for a sexually transmitted disease check.
The prosecutor said a number of the alleged offences concerned the issue of ‘consent’. Mr Clark said the girl told the defendants she was 19 at the time but added she had neither the ‘freedom or capacity’ to give consent. He told the jury that merely submitting to sexual activity was ‘not the same’.
It is alleged Zaffar and Nassar raped the girl while in Manchester. From there it is believed she was taken back to a hotel in Walsall
Mr Clark said: “There were four young men in the room. She went to the toilet and could hear through the door Mikey (Zaffar) boasting to the men about her, representing she was sexually available. This made her reluctant to leave the bathroom. However she did eventually. Then followed in the hotel a series of sexual acts instigated by Mikey involving all five men.”
He told the court she was raped in the room by Zaffar and then by the other four men, who have not been identified.
This was yesterday’s proceedings
A man accused of exploiting and repeatedly raping a 16-year-old girl who had run away from a care home has claimed her allegations are a ‘setup’.
Arqash Zaffar has accepted he picked the female up in his car in Birmingham in July 2019 and that she gave him oral sex on two occasions over the next 48 hours. But the 41-year-old, who stands trial at Birmingham Crown Court, has denied raping her, arranging for her to be exloited or causing her to be sexually abused by other men in a hotal room.
Zaffar denied using cocaine at the address. When it was put to him that he and Nassar raped the girl in the bedroom of the flat he replied: “That’s totally untrue. A disgusting accusation.”
He further rejected the notion that he had ever had sex in the presence of anyone else, saying: “No I don’t do that. It’s not a normal thing to do. Call me old-fashioned but I think that’s private when a man and woman are intimate. I’m quite traditional in that sense.”
Zaffar said after they checked out later that morning he dropped the girl back in Birmingham, near the Bullring, because she said she had a probation appointment.
Zaffar told the court he has not seen or spoken to the girl since, saying that he tried calling her a few days later but there was no answer.
He confirmed he was arrested in October 2020 and issued a prepared statement on the advice of his solicitor, which claimed the allegations were a ‘setup’.
Zaffar said: “I still stand by that. I believe this is a setup. I have been accused of something I haven’t done. I have been set up. It’s a false accusation. Trying to get me in trouble for something I haven’t done. I stand by that.”
All four men stand trial at Birmingham Crown Court denying various offences.
Zaffar, from Walsall, denies five counts of rape, four counts of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent and one count of arranging or facilitating the travel of another person with a view to exploitation.
Nadim, aged 44, from Walsall, denies one offence of sexual assault while
Arif, 42, from Walsall, denies the single exploitation charge.
Nassar, aged 40, from Denton in Manchester, has pleaded not guilty to a count of rape. The trial continues.
