Grooming Trial Victim: 'They Ripped Away My Dignity And My Last Bit Of Self-Esteem'

'They Ripped Away All My Dignity And My Last Bit Of Self-Esteem'

A victims of the Rochdale child sexual exploitation ring has spoken out about her ordeal, saying she felt "trapped" by "evil" abusers as rape became part of her "daily life."

The girl, whose identity cannot be revealed, said: "Towards the end it was like, it could be up to five different men in a day, sometimes every day, at least four or five times a week."

Speaking about future, she said she wants to help other victims of exploitation, and deemed the men who attacked her as "evil."

"They ripped away all my dignity and all my last bit of self-esteem and by the end of it I had no emotion whatsoever because I was used to being used and abused daily.

"It was just blocked out, it was just like it wasn't me any more. They just took everything away and I just think hopefully they'll pay for what they've done."

Nine men were convicted on Tuesday of being part of a sexual exploitation ring where girls were forced to have sex with "several men in a day, several times a week".

In an interview with journalists, the victim said the abuse began when another girl acted as her "recruiter".

"I started going out with her and she introduced me to these men and we'd get free alcohol and cigarettes and food and free taxis and things.

"At first I thought it were great because nothing had happened, like nothing sexual. I just thought 'I can get all this stuff for free'. And then I ended up living pretty much with this girl because I thought how good it was and I could do what I want and stuff," she said.

"At first I felt really bad and dirty and ashamed, but after a while it had been going on for so long and so many different men and that it just became like...I didn't feel anything towards it anymore. It weren't me any more. It just became like something I had to do and I just couldn't get out of it. Like once you're in it you're trapped. It just became like a daily life."

She told how she raised the alarm with the police after being arrested but the abuse continued as the CPS would not prosecute, despite her handling them DNA evidence.

The girl said it was worse after she told the police: "I felt let down. But I know that they believed me...but...because they said to me at the end that something should have been done but the CPS just would not - what's the word? - prosecute is it?

"So I felt...It's like, then, in 2008 it weren't really heard of...Asian men with white girls. Nobody like...it was just unheard of. I've never heard of it. Now it's going on everywhere. You think of Muslim men as religious and family-minded and just nice people. You don't think...I don't know...you just don't think they'd do things like that."

Five girls were "shared" by Kabeer Hassan, Abdul Aziz, Abdul Rauf, Mohammed Sajid, Adil Khan, Abdul Qayyum, Mohammed Amin, Hamid Safi and a 59-year-old man who cannot be named for legal reasons.

The 10-week trial was told that the men - who are all from Pakistan, apart from Safi who is from Afghanistan - groomed the teenage girls because they were vulnerable.

One of their victims told reporters: "I'm glad that I've done something about it. I feel I've finally stood up to them and something is going to happen. I'm proud I've done that."

She again condemned her attackers, saying: "They start off nice and then they just change once they know they've got you. Then basically you just do what they say because of what they'll do to you if you don't. You know that from the threats and the tone of voice when they speak to you and the things they say."