Vodka spree of girl, 13, in child-sex case

A young girl allegedly targeted by a child sexual exploitation gang told a court she would sometimes drink a litre of neat vodka “in one sitting” when she was with the older men.

But the girl, who was aged 13 when the alleged abuse began, denies being a victim of the gang and even says she was in a six-month relationship with one of the defendants.

The girl, who had an abortion at the age of 13, also told the jury that her relationship with the men led to her to study the Koran and that she even had her own English translation.

One the defendants whom the girl is alleged to have slept with is Abdul Qayyum.

Phillip Boyd, defending Qayyum, questioned whether she was mistaken in identifying his client and asked her about how much she would drink on these occasions.

He said: “There would be occasions when you would be drinking a litre of vodka at one sitting?”

“Yeah”, said the girl, who was giving evidence via a video link.

“Neat vodka?”

“Yeah,” she replied.

The girl, who is now 16, said she was drinking heavily “three or four times a week”.

Mr Boyd said: “Looking back that’s an enormous amount of drink isn’t it?” She agreed that it was.

The court heard that the girl had identified Qayyum, of Ramsay Street, Rochdale, by the nickname “Tiger” but also said she knew of two other men by the same nickname. Mr Boyd said she had identified the wrong man.

Earlier the court heard she had fallen pregnant by the defendant Adil Khan, who was known to her as Billy and had an abortion.

She said she was seeing Khan for “about six months” and described him as a boyfriend with whom she was in a relationship.

Kabeer Hassan, 24, Abdul Aziz, 41, Abdul Rauf, 43, Mohammed Sajid, 35, Adil Khan, 42, Abdul Qayyum, 43, Mohammed Amin, 44, Qamar Shahzad, 29, Liaquat Shah, 41, and Hamid Safi, 22, have all pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child under 16.

A 59-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, also denies the same charge. He also denies two counts of rape, aiding and abetting a rape, one count of sexual assault and an allegation of trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation.

Mr Hassan and Mr Shahzad also deny rape.

Mr Aziz, denies two counts of rape and one allegation of trafficking for sexual exploitation.

Mr Khan and Mr Rauf have also pleaded not guilty to trafficking for sexual exploitation.

Mr Sajid denies trafficking, two counts of rape and one allegation of sexual activity with a child.

Mr Amin denies sexual assault.

Mr Shah and Mr Safi each denied two counts of rape and Mr Safi has also pleaded not guilty to trafficking.

The case continues.