Judge: Lock up sex abusers for longer if victim is Asian
SEX attackers who assault Asian girls can be given l onger sentences than those whose victims are white, an Appeal Court judge ruled yesterday.
Abuse of an Asian victim can be worse because it can damage her prospects of an arranged marriage, Mr Justice Walker said.
He upheld a seven-year jail sentence on Jamal Mohammed Raheem Ul-Nasir, 32, who was convicted last year at Leeds Crown Court for sexual assaults on two girls aged nine and 14.
The judge who convicted him, Sally Cahill QC, had said the fact that the victims were Asian was an ‘aggravating feature’ as they had suffered shame in their communities and damage to their marriage prospects.
Mr Justice Walker’s ruling on the decision – which judges will now be expected to follow when sentencing other paedophiles and sex attackers – provoked a furious reaction from the country’s largest children’s charity.
The NSPCC said: ‘British justice should operate on a level playing field and children need to be protected irrespective of cultural differences.
‘Regardless of race, religion, or gender, every child deserves the right to be safe from sexual abuse, and the courts must reflect this. It is vital that those who commit these hideous crimes are punished to the full limit of the law.’
Ul-Nasir, who abused the girls at his house in Bradford in 2010 and 2011, had sought leave to appeal against his sentence for four counts of sexual activity with a child and two of sexual assault of a child.
In rejecting the application, Mr Justice Walker said: ‘The victims’ fathers were concerned about the future marriage prospects for their daughters.
‘Judge Cahill was having particular regard to the harm caused to the victims by this offending. That harm was aggravated by the impact on the victims and their families within this particular community.’
The ruling follows a series of scandals over attacks on white victims by Asian sex gangs in t owns i ncluding Rochdale, Oxford and Rotherham.