A businessman prosecutors describe as the 'ringleader' of a group of Rochdale men accused of sexually abusing three girls has denied ever having sex with his accusers.
Former market trader and married father-of-five Tahir Rashid, 55, told a jury that one girl told him she was 18 when they kissed, when she was actually under 16. Aged 34 at the time, he denied the girl had visited him in her school uniform and claimed she and his other accusers would have mentioned his 'small penis' if they had had sex.
Prosecution's 'ringleader' claim
Mr Rashid, described by prosecutors as the 'undoubted ringleader in this group' of six men, denied ever having sex with one of the alleged victims, referred to in press reports of the trial as Girl A.
Mr Rashid, 55; Mohammed Saleem, 47; Sucklane Shah, 47; Amjad Mahmood, 54; Iftaq Hussain, 46; and Arshad Mohammed, 56, deny all the charges they face concerning three alleged victims, who cannot be named.
Girl A and Girl B were allegedly exploited in the mid 2000s while the alleged abuse of another, Girl C, allegedly began in the late 1980s. The trio were 'groomed', 'manipulated' and became 'sex slaves', often being forced to have sex 'with multiple men on the same day, in filthy flats and houses', prosecutors allege.
Defendant's account of encounters
Mr Rashid is alleged to have abused Girl A during three encounters at a house in Bamford near Rochdale, where he had previously lived with his family before moving to another address.
The defendant, starting his second day on the witness stand during a trial at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court, was asked by his barrister Mohammed Qazi KC if he understood that Girl A had alleged that every time she visited the property apart from the first time they had sex.
He said the first time the girl visited in 2005 'nothing had happened' apart from touching her thigh with his hand after, he said, the girl had 'laid across' his chest as the pair were sitting on a sofa.
"Her face was close to mine and we started kissing," Mr Rashid added. "I'm not sure why. I don't know why, I think it was just the heat of the moment. She was there. I was there. We were both alone. I think she wanted it as well."
The defendant said he then touched her leg and his hand 'move up a little bit' before Girl A told him she was on her period. He told the jury he then stopped.
He said he had never met the girl before she arrived at the house at about 10pm to 11pm. He said he was smoking cannabis, 'chilling' with friends in the living room and had purchased seven or eight bottles of alcopops for the evening.
Girl A looked like 'a young woman', was dressed in a white top and a mini-skirt and she told him she was 18, said Mr Rashid. "I believed her," he said.
Asked how the subject of her age came up, Mr Rashid told the jury: "We were just talking. I think I might have asked how old she was and she said she's 18."
The girl had a 'bubbly personality' and got on with the others who were there, named in court as Rizwan Ali, nicknamed Master, Stephen Snape and David Livesey.
He said on further visits there was sexual activity. Mr Rashid added: "At the time I think [Girl A] was over 18 even though I never expected her to do what she did, I consented to it anyway."
He denied the girl had also visited him while she was wearing her school uniform and he said he didn't know she was actually under 18 at the time. He said he had never queried her age.
Mr Rashid denied he had ever arranged for Girl A to have sex with anyone else, nor did he ask her to provide other girls for sex.
"Did you give or receive anything in exchange with her?," asked his KC. The defendant answered: "I had not had sex with her."
Mr Rashid denied telling the girl how to dress. Asked whether he had discussed with her contraception in his faith and culture, he answered: "No I have never had any conversation with her like that."
Mr Rashid said he had never given the girl drugs although he added she may have smoked some cannabis as it was being passed around the house.
"We were all smoking cannabis and it was being passed about," he said.
Claims about 'small penis'
During the third alleged encounter at the house, the defendant said he had been smoking cannabis and drinking Bacardi Breezer when he decided to go upstairs to lay down for 10 or 15 minutes as he was starting to feel uncomfortable.
He said he recalled Girl A 'sat on top of [him]' and removed her top. "I was pretty shocked," he said. "When I first opened my eyes, I didn't expect it."
Mr Rashid said he felt 'embarrassed' when she tried to unbutton his jeans. He said they started kissing and he started 'fondling' her and he put his hands down her skirt and he said he touched her intimately.
The defendant went on: "It doesn't really go any further from there. I didn't want to take my jeans off because I felt embarrassed." Asked why, he said he didn't want Girl A to know he had 'a small penis'.
Asked why he had touched her, he told the jury: "That's what she wanted. That's what I thought she wanted anyway."
Mr Rashid said he met Girl A through his co-defendant Mohammed Saleem. Mr Rashid told the jury he had known Mr Saleem as a friend from Rochdale since the late 1990s but after 2000 had not seen him 'for quite a long time'. He said they both had an interest in cars.
The defendant said he became reacquainted with Mr Saleem in 2005 following a 'shooting incident' at the house in Bamford, and he said Mr Saleem had invited Girl A to the house.
"He asked if it was okay to bring a friend up," he said. Earlier, he told the jury he married in 1993 when he was aged 23. He said it wasn't an arranged marriage and the couple had five children, the first born in 1991.
He said he had worked as a market trader until taking over his sister's shop in Rochdale, also later trading in second hand cars.
During cross-examination by Rossano Scarmadella KC, the barrister asked: "What's the relevance of your small penis?"
"It's a very embarrassing issue for me... I have lived with it a long time," said the defendant.
Pressed about what it had to do with the case, he answered: "This case is about sexual activity and nobody has mentioned the size of my penis. Because if they had seen it, they would have said."
The prosecutor told the jury the defence had commissioned a report into the size of the defendant's penis to see if it affected Mr Rashid's ability to have sex.
Mr Rashid said the doctor who authored the report measured his penis at 3cm when flaccid. When the prosecutor said the report actually recorded the measurement as 6cm, the defendant said he was 'sure' the doctor had told him it was 3cm.
The report had noted 'performance anxiety' but this occurred in 2014, the jurors were told.
Charges against the defendants
Mr Rashid, of Hudsons Walk, Rochdale, denies 12 counts of rape; three counts of indecent assault; and one count of assault by penetration. The charges include allegations against all three complainants.
Mr Saleem, of Bradley Smithy Close, Rochdale, denies eight counts of rape allegedly committed against Girl A.
Mr Shah, of Crawford Street, Rochdale, denies two counts of rape allegedly committed against Girl B.
Mr Mohammed, of Merefield Street, Rochdale, denies four counts of rape; and one count of assault by penetration. The charges include allegations against Girl A and Girl B.
Mr Hussain, of Hey Street, Rochdale, denies three counts of rape allegedly committed against Girl A.
Mr Mahmood, of Channing Street, Rochdale, denies 11 counts of rape, two counts of indecency with a child, two counts of assault by penetration and one count of indecent assault. The charges include allegations against Girl A and Girl B.
The trial is proceeding.
