The Gold Coast Bulletin

Vile saga beggars belief

Brit authoritie­s allowed rape culture to flourish

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THE grooming gangs scandal is one of the most shameful episodes in modern British history. This is real rape culture in the West with gangs of predatory men preying upon vulnerable victims while authoritie­s looked the other way.

Hundreds of girls, some as young as 11, have been repeatedly raped, beaten and trafficked by groups of men who saw them as nothing more than pieces of meat.

For years the systematic abuse went unchecked because authoritie­s were too frightened to act given the offenders were from immigrant communitie­s, mainly Muslim BritishPak­istanis.

Crippled by political correctnes­s, police and child protection services allowed the abuse of poor, marginalis­ed girls and women to occur under their noses.

When the Rotherham scandal was fully exposed in 2014 – after an inquiry found more than 1400 children were subjected to repeated sexual and physical abuse for more than a decade including gang rapes, forced prostituti­on and beatings – it revealed not only the depths of the perversity of the offenders but the cowardice of authoritie­s who all but ignored victims’ pleas for help.

Decency and the rule of law were sacrificed for “community cohesion” and “cultural sensitivit­y”. Those in positions of power allowed fears about appearing racist or insensitiv­e to cultural difference­s to trump the protection of at-risk girls so much so that when a Rotherham council employee attempted to raise the alarm she was discipline­d and sent to an “ethnicity and diversity course” and told she must “never, ever” again refer to the ethnic background of the perpetrato­rs.

We’ve since learnt that the grooming gangs were not limited to Rotherham. The same phenomenon of mostly Pakistani men targeting mostly poor white girls has occurred in other parts of the country including Oxford, Peterborou­gh, Aylesbury, Bristol, Rochdale, Telford, Halifax, Keighley, Banbury, Newcastle and Derby.

In Newcastle, a case review identified more than 700 potential victims of grooming gangs, including a 12-year-old girl who fell pregnant.

It’s feared the sexual exploitati­on extends to boys, with male victims even less likely to report the abuse.

One of the Newcastle gang to be convicted, Badrul Hussain, summed up the attitude of the offenders when he told a female ticket inspector: “All white women are only good for one thing – for men like me to f*** and use like trash.”

The latest lot to be convicted were 20 members of a grooming gang from Huddersfie­ld who committed more than 100 offences including raping girls as young as 11 in a campaign of “rape and abuse” that authoritie­s believe involved many other perpetrato­rs who have not yet been brought to justice.

Details of the three trials became public earlier this month after a judge partially lifted reporting restrictio­ns following a challenge from the media. Judge Geoffrey Marson QC described the offending as “the top of the scale” and noted that “none of you has expressed any remorse for what you did”.

“You treated them as commoditie­s to be passed around for your own sexual gratificat­ion and the gratificat­ion of others,” he said. “The extent and gravity of your offending far exceeds anything which I have previously encountere­d.”

It was reported that one girl aged just 12 was forcibly removed from her care home by one of the men who brazenly told staff “I want to f*** her” while other underage girls were picked up from school and then drugged and raped.

The offenders had got away with it for so long that they no longer feared the West Yorkshire police or social workers. The court heard that repeated complaints to authoritie­s from victims and their families had fallen on deaf ears.

Even now that we are learning the full horror of the abuse, there is no groundswel­l of condemnati­on from the commentari­at, particular­ly the feminists of the #MeToo movement.

Showing the same cowardice that crippled authoritie­s for so long the “chattering classes” would rather look the other way than examine how such widescale abuse was allowed to occur.

Indeed, not only are many ignoring the grooming gang crisis but they are lashing out at those who dare state uncomforta­ble truths.

After the verdict in the Huddersfie­ld case, Home Secretary Sajid Javid tweeted: “These sick Asian pedophiles are finally facing justice. I want to commend the bravery of the victims. For too long, they were ignored. Not on my watch. There will be no no-go areas.”

For mentioning the ethnicity of the criminals he has been lambasted by MPs and human rights campaigner­s including Labour

MP David Lammy, who accused Javis of bringing “a great office into disrepute” and pandering to the far right by “singling out Asians”. This despite all of the men convicted in Huddersfie­ld being of Asian heritage. One fears Britain has not learned the lessons of this grim saga.

 ??  ?? Britain’s Home Secretary Sajid Javid (right) has been savaged for condemning the gangs of “sick Asian pedophiles” responsibl­e for raping hundreds of vulnerable young women and girls.
Britain’s Home Secretary Sajid Javid (right) has been savaged for condemning the gangs of “sick Asian pedophiles” responsibl­e for raping hundreds of vulnerable young women and girls.
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