Grooming gang face jail for rape of girl, 15

THREE men who groomed and raped a 15-year-old schoolgirl they treated as a ‘sex object’ are now facing jail.

Aivars Hauberts, 21, Ailands Aleksanders, 22, and Ludvigs Rudevics, 35, attacked the 15-year-old at two flats in Glasgow.

Hauberts and Alekanders raped her at a party while she was ‘extremely drunk’, the jury at the High Court in Glasgow heard.

Rudevics then raped her a month later after offering her a place to stay.

Yesterday, all three were found guilty of rape. A fourth man, Hardis Gindra, 27, was convicted of having underage sex with the victim, who is now 19 and cannot be named for legal reasons.

The gang, all originally from Latvia, ‘groomed and sexually exploited her and used her as nothing other than a sex object’, prosecutor Bernard Ablett told the court. The victim, who lives in Glasgow, wept as she described being raped after drinking at a party in a flat in the city on June 3, 2015.

Gindra had underage sex with her in an unknown location ten days later, while Rudevics attacked her on July 14, 2015.

She told the jury she had been introduced to the men by a schoolfriend and said that, at first, they had been very polite.

But she added: ‘They started speaking sexually to me – talking about sex and my body and stuff like that.’

Mr Ablett asked: ‘What did they want to do?’ She replied: ‘Touch my body and have sex with me.’

The victim then told how she went with

Hauberts and Alekanders and other men to a ground-floor flat in Glasgow.

When asked why she went with them, she said: ‘To have my birthday party.

‘There was a table set up with drink and snacks in the living room.’

But the victim said that after drinking vodka and Mad Dog she started to feel ill and went to a bedroom to lie down. Mr Ablett asked: ‘What happened next?’ She replied: ‘I remember seeing some people coming into the bedroom. There were three or four people there. I can’t remember the faces but I’m adamant it was the people I went to the flat with.

‘My clothes started to come off and I was too drunk to do anything. I remember people starting to have sex with me.’

Mr Ablett asked her: ‘Who was having sex with you?’ She replied: ‘I’m sure Ailands and Aivars.’ The prosecutor then asked: ‘Was there any discussions as to whether the males could have sex with you?’

The victim answered: ‘I wouldn’t have been able to answer it properly because I was extremely drunk.’

When asked why she had socialised with the men, she said: ‘It was the only attention I was getting in my life. They were nice to me and they were making me feel good.

‘[I liked] the compliments. I could get drugs and alcohol whenever I wanted.’

Asked if they had bought her anything else, she replied: ‘Underwear and bras and stuff like that.’

Judge Lord Armstong placed all four on the sex offenders’ register and deferred sentence until next month.

Gindra was given bail but the three others were remanded into custody.