Gang ‘used Facebook to groom underage white girls for sex’
A GROOMING gang used Facebook to ply white girls as young as 13 with alcohol and drugs in return for sex, a court heard.
The men, of Kurdish origin, demanded sex from a 14-yearold girl in exchange for a free tattoo at a local studio and contacted an alleged victim on Facebook about ‘sex at a party’.
The ‘naive’ and ‘vulnerable’ girls were in thrall to the older, ‘worldlywise’ men, a jury at Newcastle Crown Court was told yesterday.
Drugs including cocaine and speed, known by the girls as ‘whizz’, would be freely available at the ‘parties’ and the girls were often intoxicated or ‘out of it’.
The men treated the teenagers, some of whom were in care, as ‘commodities’. One of their alleged victims said the abuse was an ‘almost daily occurrence’.
They propositioned her for sex and touched her genitals over her clothes multiple times, the court heard.
The gang is accused of 31 crimes including rape, sexual activity with a child, trafficking a child, and conspiracy to incite prostitution of a child between 2007 and 2014.
A variety of grooming methods were used to keep the six girls, who did not know each other, in thrall to the men.
Palla Pour, now 25, and his friend, known as ‘Star’, told one of the gang’s victims they would pay for her tattoo if she had sex with them.
Anne Richardson, prosecuting, told the court: ‘She said yes but in a sarcastic way, she then told Pour she would not have sex. She did not pay for her tattoo – Star and another male did. The other male drove the Green Peugeot.
‘Every time the latter drove her to Star’s flat something sexual would happen between her and either Star or Pour.’
The girl passed out as the tattoo was being done, the prosecution said, and so she was taken back to Star’s flat. It was here that the car’s driver Soran Azizi, 28, would ask aboutThe for but girlher sex. she upcominghad was spokenstill targeted.15th to birthday, Star She was often so high on drink and drugs she felt she had no choice but to have sex numerous times with Pour, both before and after her 15th birthday. Another girl, who was 16 at the time, was drawn into the group after she started a relationship with Azizi, who was 17. One evening she went back to the flat of one of his friends, called Ribas Asad, 29. As she got dressed in a bedroom Asad came in and began touching her and kissing her, trying to take her clothes off. But she fought back, biting his tongue and pushing him. Her resistance made him angry, and he ripped her top. The girl shoved him, smashing his head against the wall, before escaping with a friend. Some of the girls were passed around the men and plied with drugs to pressure them into sex. One alleged victim said she ‘was always under the influence of drink and drugs’ when she had sex
with Asad. The same girl was also abused by Heiman Mohammed, now 26 and known to the group as ‘Luqman’.
He, and an associate called ‘Fatman’, whom he said was his brother, were present when the girl was given alcohol and drugs at a ‘dinner party’ and she lost her memory.
Miss Richardson, describing another night, told the jury: ‘He once again plied her with alcohol and drugs and they had sex. This became a pattern, with the girl never being sober when they had sex.
‘On occasions she would try to refuse to have sex but Luqman would turn nasty and verbally abuse her.’
Saman Obaid, 29, also sexually assaulted her, the prosecution said, only having sex with her when she was drunk or drugged up.
Miss Richardson added: ‘The case involves allegations of sexual exploitation and trafficking of young women and girls in the Newcastle upon Tyne area of the North East.
‘They were young, naive women who were in thrall to and under the control of these, for the most part, older and more worldly-wise defendants. Those who make the allegations are, for the most part, immature and vulnerable people.
‘ These personality traits were exploited by the defendants and each of the young women were lured to various houses and flats where drugs and alcohol were made freely available.’
Azizi denies rape, sexual activity with a child and two counts of trafficking for sexual exploitation.
Pour denies four counts of sexual activity with a child, paying for the sexual services of a child, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, two counts of supplying a controlled drug, and knowingly permitting or suffering his premises to be used for the supply of controlled drugs.
Asad denies sexual assault, paying for the sexual services of a child, conspiring to facilitate prostitution, supplying a controlled drug, inciting a child to sexual activity and sexual activity with a child. Mohammed, known as Luqman, denies sexual activity with a child, paying for the sexual services of a child and supplying a controlled drug.
Obaid denies sexual activity with a child, paying for the sexual services of a child, conspiracy to facilitate prostitution and three counts of supplying a controlled drug.
The trial continues.
‘Plied with alcohol and drugs’