Ring ‘passed girls around for sex’
Gang of five men deny abusing vulnerable minors after first bribing them with drink and drugs
‘It is not always apparent to someone that what they have been engaged in is in fact abusive’
A KURDISH grooming gang raped and abused vulnerable white girls, many of whom were in social services care, a court has heard.
The gang – based in Newcastle upon Tyne – allegedly used social media to contact the girls and entice them to sex parties, before bribing them with drugs and alcohol. On one occasion members of the gang – who were said to have treated the teenagers like “commodities” – offered to pay for a girl’s tattoo in return for sex, it was claimed.
The alleged victims were as young as 13 when the grooming began and some were then pressed into prostitution in return for drugs including ecstasy and cocaine, the court was told.
Sex with the gang became “chillingly, an almost daily occurrence” for some of the girls, prosecutor Anne Richardson told Newcastle Crown Court. Opening the prosecution, she said: “The alleged offences occurred between 2007 and 2014 and those who make these allegations are, for the most part, immature and vulnerable people. It is the Crown’s case that these personality traits were exploited by the defendants and that each of the young women was lured to various houses and flats where drugs and/or alcohol were made freely available to them.
“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. It is not always apparent to someone that what they have been engaged in is in fact abusive and the law exists to protect those who cannot or do not want to protect themselves.
“These complainants were encouraged and expected to provide sexual favours and services, not because they wanted so to do, or through their own free and unencumbered will, but because they were beholden and in thrall to these men.” Miss Richardson added: “These complainants were effectively passed between some if not all the defendants, treated almost as commodities. “Some complainants continually failed to extricate themselves from the situation in which they found themselves, even believing they were in a relationship with a particular defendant.”
The defendants, all of Kurdish extraction, face a variety of charges. Soran Azizi, 28, denies rape, sexual activity with a child and two counts of trafficking for sexual exploitation.
Palla Pour, 25, 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 his premises to be used for the supply of controlled drugs. Ribas Asad, 29, 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.
Heiman Mohammed, 26, denies sexual activity with a child, paying for the sexual services of a child and supplying a controlled drug.
Saman Faiaq Obaid, 29, 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 court heard one girl had wanted a tattoo and Palla Pour and another non-accused man, known only as Star, agreed to pay if she had sex with them.
The girls, some in the care of social services, were sexually assaulted while too drunk to consent on some occasions, it is alleged.
Miss Richardson said: “One girl recalls that on one occasion she and a friend had travelled to Newcastle and ended up in Azizi’s flat. She cannot recall much but woke up with her trousers down and Azizi on top of her.”
The trial, which is expected to last six weeks, continues.