A court has heard that girls as young as 12 were raped and trafficked for sex by a group of Somali men. Bristol crown court was told the abuse the girls were subjected to was “degrading, violent and horrible.” Some of the seven girls were allegedly given drugs and alcohol while being “pestered again and again for sex.”
Seven Somali men are facing 46 charges, including rape, rape of a child under 13, sexual assault, trafficking for sexual exploitation and false imprisonment. The men, Sakariya Sheikh, 23, Abdirahman Galal, 26, Mohammed Osman, 29, Mohammed Dahir, 24, Nuridin Mohamoud, 22, Abdirashid Abdulahi, 23, and Nasir Mahmoud, 23, all deny the charges.
The majority of offences occurred between 2011 and 2012 against the girls who has travelled to Bristol by train to meet the men. Prosecutors say that rapes became routine and the men regarded some of the girls as “cheap and easy.”
The majority of offences has been committed against one girl who kept a diary in which she left coded messages with references to sex and oral sex with the men.
The trial is adjourned until Thursday.
