Five men have been convicted of child
abuse after exploiting the 'profound vulnerability' of a 15-year-old
girl, it emerged today.
The
victim, who was removed from her drug-addicted parents and taken into
care at a young age, took the stand in two trials to give evidence
against her abusers.
She told the court that the defendants plied her with vodka and cannabis before having sex with her.
The
abuse take place in 2008 and 2009 in Rochdale, and first came to light
after the girl complained to police that Congolese refugee Freddie
Kendakumana had raped her.
Guilty: Chola Chansa, left, and Abdul Huk, right, are two of five men convicted of abusing a teenage girl
She had been prompted to talk
to officers after telling a health support worker that Kendakumana had
been forcing himself upon her.
However,
other social workers failed to report her claims that she was having
consensual sexual contact with a string of older men whom she labelled
'boyfriends'.
It was not until last year, four years after the initial complaint, that the defendants were finally charged.
Last month Kendakumana, 27, was convicted of rape and sexual activity with a child. He was cleared of a second count of rape.
Two
other men, Mohammed Rafiq Abubaker, 25, and takeaway worker Roheez
Khan, 27, were found guilty of sexual activity with a child. Khan was
also convicted of witness intimidation.
A fourth man, 33-year-old Chola Chansa, pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a child just before the trial started.
Abuse: Freddie Kendakumana, left, and Mohammed Rafiq Abubaker, right, were also convicted
In another trial which concluded today taxi driver Abdul Huk, 37, was found guilty of sexual activity with a child.
Two more defendants were cleared of all charges, while the jury was unable to reach a verdict on another man.
The five men convicted in the two trials will be sentenced on December 20 at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.
Judge Jonathan Foster QC removed reporting restrictions on the case following the end of the second trial.
This
is the second major child abuse case in Rochdale in the past 18 months,
after nine men of Pakistani origin were jailed for the systematic
grooming and sexual abuse of five white girls in May last year.
Dozens more potential victims of child sexual abuse have been identified in Rochdale by Greater Manchester Police.
Opening
the case against all the defendants, prosecutor Neil Usher said:
'Leading the chaotic life that [the victim] had for some time by the age
of 15, she was vulnerable to being groomed and exploited by those who
correctly perceived she would be easy to flatter and impress with free
and plentiful drink, cannabis and just as importantly, a level of
attention and affection that she craved and felt she had lacked in her
difficult early life.
'She
repeatedly and regularly returned to a number of older men all of whom
sexually exploited her and some of whom physically abused her, despite
her being advised and supported by health care and social workers.
'The
risk-taking and potentially harming positions she regularly put herself
in was an indication of the extent of her profound vulnerablily and
emotional immaturity.'
Taking advantage: Huk and Chansa, along with others, gave the girl alcohol and drugs before abusing her
In 2008 the girl, now aged
20, was a troubled teenager who had been taken into care by Social
Services at an early age following a chaotic upbringing by her
drug-addicted parents, he said.
She
was later returned to her mother after a stint in foster care but began
drinking alcohol, taking crack cocaine and sniffing lighter fluid from
the age of 11.
The girl
was in touch with a number of agencies including Pennine Care
Foundation Trust's Crisis Intervention Team which deals with sexual
health and Early Break, an organisation which focuses on substance
misuse problems.
The
prosecutor said she would tell those agency support workers and her
social workers from Rochdale Council about the lifestyle she was
leading.
She claimed
that older men would give her copious amounts of alcohol, sometimes
drugs, and she would have consensual sex with them.
The
court heard that the girl realised shortly before her 16th birthday
that her torrid lifestyle had to end and she later cut her ties with
older men and enrolled at college.
As
she testified in the two trials the victim, who cannot be named for
legal reasons, provided chilling details of how her 'boyfriends' would
abuse her.
Speaking calmly, she described one occasion when Kendakumana dragged her by her hair as she was trying to leave his flat.
'He slapped me across the face for no reason,' she told the court. 'I said, "Why?" He said, "I felt like it."'
She added: 'He kept saying he wants a baby with me. At first I thought maybe I should but I changed my mind.'
In a police interview, she said that Khan was 'controlling' and violent when she was seeing him.
'He
kept ringing and ringing me, asking me to come out,' she said. 'Having a
drink one night, I ended up sleeping with him. Started going out with
him but it got too much.
'He got controlling, he said, "Don't go to school." He said we will get married and live abroad.'
She added that he threatened her when she attempted to end their relationship.
'He
said if you finish I'm going to smash your windows, plant drugs in your
house and kidnap you and your mum. My windows got put through.'
Giving
evidence at the first trial, she told the court that various men would
invite her to their flats around Rochdale and ply her with spirits.
'They
would say they were my boyfriend but they were not really,' she said.
'But at the time I thought that was what a relationship was.'
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