Five men, including four Bradford-based citizens, were jailed for a total of 28 years for the prostitution of a thirteen year-old girl. All men initially denied the charges.
Shakeal Rehman, 26, of Haworth Road, Bradford, was found guilty of rape and trafficking the girl while other members of the gang Usman Ali, Yaseen Amini and Bekeer Rashid were sentenced for trafficking and assault respectively.
The court heard evidence that the girl was taken to Bradford and sexually exploited for a period of eight days after running away from her home in Sheffield. The victim was shifted between many different addresses by Rehman, including a city centre hotel where he assaulted and finally abandoned her in the city centre. The police found her at this location.
Detective Inspector Tate who led the investigation stated that 'to be the victim of any sexual offence is horrendous but to then have to engage in a process where you have to relive that ordeal and disclose in detail the intricacies of the painful event is hard to comprehend (…) It’s bad enough for an adult, but we are talking about a 13-year-old child who has had to engage with people in authority and retell her story as part of the judicial process'.
