Bus sex attacker ‘thrown out of lease and shamed’
AMARKET trader who sexually assaulted three teenage girls on buses has lost his job and been ‘shamed in the community and the mosque’, a court heard.
Abdul Kazi, of Water Street, Accrington, committed the sex attacks on separate occasions.
The 66-year-old was identified by police following a Lancashire Police CCTV appeal, Burnley Crown Court was told.
The Observer reported last month how Kazi denied five counts of sexual assault but was unanimously found guilty by a jury on all counts after a four-day trial.
Prosecutor Lisa Worsley said Kazi sat behind one of the victims and she ‘felt something touching her left side’ and he then ‘carried on touching her between her arm and breast’.
She reported the incident to the bus driver and police and it was captured on CCTV.
Ms Worsley said stills were taken from the footage and issued through a police media appeal and Kazi was identified and arrested.
Two more victims contacted police after seeing the CCTV appeal and said they had been sexually assaulted by Kazi in earlier incidents.
The first victim said an incident happened in when Kazi sat behind her and started ‘touching her and stroking her waist’.
Ms Worsley said it carried on for about 15 minutes but she was ‘too scared to say anything’.
The following month Kazi sat behind her again on the bus and ‘started touching her left hand side’ and then ‘moved his hand up and down her waist’.
When he started stroking her hair she moved to a different seat and took a photograph of him on Snapchat.
The second victim said she was twice sexually assaulted by Kazi.
In the first incident she felt the defendant ‘touching her shoulder’ and ‘stroking her’ but she did ‘not want to make an issue of it’.
Ms Worsley said when Kazi touched her again on a second occasion she turned round and challenged him and reported the incident the next day.
In victim impact statements read out at court, all three girls said they felt ‘anxious’ and scared to go on buses again.
One victim said she ‘felt very violated and disgusted’ and will ‘ never forget what happened to her’.
Defence barrister Steven Levine said Kazi had worked on Burnley Market for 26 years but he was ‘thrown out’ and had his lease terminated because of the convictions.
He said: “The strongest mitigation is he is 66 years old and a man of previous good character. He has lost that.
“It’s not the best probation report I have read. Despite everything he has said there’s a potential for an underlying shame and that he can’t recognise his guilt.
“He is shamed in the business community, he is shamed as a member of the community and shamed in the mosque.
“It is having a fundamental effect on his life. He has to live with that pain.”
Mr Levine said Kazi was ‘not seeking out young victims on buses’ and the offences were ‘ not premeditated’.
He said: “It was opportunistic and unsophisticated. The jury has spoken. He is a stupid man. He knew there was CCTV there.”
Recorder Neville Biddle sentenced Kazi to a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months with a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement, a six-month curfew.
The defendant was also made subject to a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and ordered to sign the sex offenders register.
Sentencing, Recorder Biddle said: “These young women were going about their lawful business and they can reasonably have expected to be allowed to travel on those buses unmolested.
“On five occasions you sexually assaulted them.
“The effect on these three young women has been quite dramatic.
“Happily it seems now all three are beginning to get over this experience and are getting on with their lives.”