Two men have been jailed for abducting an 11-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted and offered cocaine after being approached in the street.
Drug users Sadak Ali and Hamza Sharif “deliberately isolated” the victim at a house in Birmingham, where she was asked “invasive” sexual questions before being assaulted, Birmingham Crown Court heard.
Jail terms handed down
Ali, 28, who was using drugs at the property and touched the girl over her clothing, was jailed for seven years. He was found guilty at a trial of sexual assault and child abduction.
Sharif was handed a five-year sentence for child abduction after Judge Roderick Henderson said the 36-year-old was the “driving force” of the offending, as he first met the victim on the street.
Prosecution details
Prosecutor Usha Shergill told their sentencing hearing that the victim, who they did not know, had left her home in the early hours without notifying anyone and encountered Sharif near a railway station in east Birmingham.
Sharif suggested the girl should go to a house with him, where she declined an offer to take cocaine, and Ali asked her “invasive” sexual questions and assaulted her.
In a victim personal statement read to the court by Ms Shergill, the girl, who cannot be identified, said: “I thought the man wanted to help me but what happened changed me forever.”
The girl also said she felt like she was being punished, found it difficult to trust any adult and suffered “nightmares and flashbacks” in which she could picture the two men.
Defence and sentencing
Before sentencing, defence barristers Simon Burch and Simon Williams accepted the defendants had used illegal drugs.
Mr Williams said Ali had “experienced trauma” in Somalia, which had affected his mental health, and had turned 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.
Making representations by videolink, Mr Burch said 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 rejecting Mr Burch's suggestion that Sharif had a “benevolent motivation” towards the victim, Judge Henderson accepted both defendants had experienced significant difficulties in their lives.
The judge said the victim was desperately vulnerable and ordered Ali to register as a sex offender for life. He also made both men subject to restraining orders.
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.”
