Sex abuse victim, 14, told: ‘You consented’
SAMMY’S CASH SNUB
A WOMAN abused by the leader of the Rotherham grooming gang was told she had “consented”.
Sammy Woodhouse was sexually abused from the age of 14.
She twice fell pregnant to Arshid Hussain, who is serving 35 years in jail. But she was rejected for a pay-out by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.
It ruled she was not “manipulated” and said it was “not satisfied your consent was falsely given as a result of being groomed by the offender”. Sammy, now 32, has since received compensation.
She said: “If an adult can privately think that it’s a child’s fault for being abused, beaten, raped, abducted, I think you’re in the wrong job.’’ Her solicitor David Greenwood added: “I am utterly shocked by the notion that decision makers in a government organisation can consider that 14 or 15-year-old girls can consent to sex with adults.”
Sammy is one of nearly 700 child victims to be refused payments in the last five years. The authority is now reviewing its guidelines.