Child sex abuse trial: Defendant "had relationship” with two alleged victims

Hussain (39) faces 15 charges including rape, indecent assault, false imprisonment and threats to kill against four women.

Giving evidence at Sheffield Crown Court on Wednesday, he said he only knew two of the four women he was charged with offences against and said he had been in long-term sexual relationships with them both, at the same time.

Resuming his evidence today at Sheffield Crown Court Hussain also admitted to having a sexual relationship with a third girl while he was also seeing the other two.

He is not charged with any offences against the third girl, although his brother Arshid Hussain is charged with attempting to procure her to become a common prostitute.

He said of having relationships with three girls at once: “I was in my early twenties, I liked the attention, that's all it was, I used to drive nice cars, had some money, looking back on it it was stupid, at the time I liked it.”

Miss Gillian Batts, defending Hussain, said when the girls were aged 16 in 1998 Basharat would have been around 22.

Hussain said he began a relationship with one of them around eight months before her 16th birthday, but did not have sex with her until her 16th birthday.

He said: “I knew she was 15 and she didn’t want to rush it and neither did I, we wanted to wait so we discussed it, we both agreed to have sex on her birthday.”

In her evidence, the woman claimed he was violent towards her, tied her up, poured petrol on her and forced her to give oral sex to other men as well as storing guns and drugs for him.

Basharat said all this was “lies” and said he “treated her good” and would do “normal things like go to the cinema”.

He said this relationship carried on until around 2001 when he ended it because he was angry she had an abortion.

Basharat admitted meeting another alleged victim when she was 15 and he was 24, but said a sexual relationship started when she was 16, carried on for many years and he had been in love with her.

This woman claimed he had been violent towards her, strangled her, threatened to throw her off a balcony, made threats to kill her brother, and told her to dig her own grave at Castleford Reservoir.

He denies the allegations but said they had been to the reservoir once for a picnic.

Basharat said they would argue a lot as a couple and he did send some “nasty texts”.

He claims on the night she alleges she awoke to find him strangling her, she had been really drunk and he had to “drag her into the taxi”.

Basharat Hussain denies all 15 charges against him.

The trial continues.