Two drug users have been jailed for abducting an 11-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted and offered cocaine after being approached on the street. Sadak Ali, who groped the girl over her clothes, was sentenced to seven years in prison on Thursday. Birmingham Crown Court heard that the victim was "deliberately isolated" at a house after initially being abducted by co-defendant Hamza Sharif. Sharif received a five-year sentence for child abduction.
Crime details
Judge Roderick Henderson stated that Sharif, 36, from St Margaret's Road, Birmingham, was the "driving force" behind the crime, as he was the first to encounter the victim on the street. Ali, 28, of Foxton Road, Birmingham, was convicted of sexual assault and child abduction following a trial. The jury heard that the young girl was taken to a property where Ali was using drugs.
Prosecutor Usha Shergill informed the court during the men's sentencing hearing that the victim, unknown to them, had left her home in the early hours without telling anyone and had come across Sharif near an east Birmingham railway station. Sharif suggested that the girl accompany him to a house, where she declined an offer of cocaine. Ali then asked her "invasive" sexual questions and assaulted her.
Victim impact
In a victim impact statement read out in court by Ms Shergill, the girl, who cannot be named, said: "I thought the man wanted to help me but what happened changed me forever." She also revealed that she felt as though she was being punished, struggled to trust any adult and suffered from "nightmares and flashbacks" in which she could visualise the two men.
Before sentencing, defence barristers Simon Burch and Simon Williams acknowledged that the defendants had used illegal drugs. Mr Williams stated that Ali had "experienced trauma" in Somalia, which had impacted his mental health, and had resorted to alcohol and drugs as a coping mechanism. "He is currently undertaking a personal social development course (in prison). In short, he wants to become a better person," Mr Williams said.
Sentencing
Speaking via videolink, Mr Burch argued there was no evidence that Sharif, who also appeared by videolink from HMP Hewell in Worcestershire, had supplied the victim with drugs. The court heard that Sharif had experienced "various tragedies", including the deaths of his wife and uncle.
Passing sentence and dismissing Mr Burch's suggestion that Sharif had a "benevolent motivation" towards the victim, Judge Henderson accepted that both defendants had faced significant challenges in their lives. Ordering Ali to register as a sex offender for life and imposing restraining orders on both men, the judge highlighted the victim's extreme vulnerability.
He said of Sharif: "He was the person that first made contact. He was therefore the driving force in the abduction. She (the complainant) was deliberately isolated for a significant length of time."
