Child sex abuse trial: Victim "told accused she was 16" - claim

A DEFENDANT charged with raping a girl when she was underage has admitted he had sex with her - which he told police 13 years ago - but claims he did not know her age, a court heard.

Despite Masoued Malik (32) telling police in an interview in October 2003 that he had had sex with the then 14-year-old girl around a year earlier, he was never charged.

The girl also told police in her complaint in October 2003 that Malik and co-defendant Naeem Rafiq had held her against her will at a flat and forced her perform sex acts on five men.

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Miss Michelle Colborne, prosecuting, said in her opening statement that in 2003 Malik and Rafiq accepted they knew the girl but gave differing accounts of what happened at the flat

“Malik said he had sex with her about a year earlier, but she told him she was 16,” said Miss Colborne.

The pair then made threats to the girl, now aged 27, which led to her family having a panic alarm fitted, said Miss Colborne, and the police were informed but they were never arrested.

Malik — who is one of eight men on trial — claims he had consensual sex with the girl.

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The complainant was cross-examined today by Mrs Louise Sweet, representing Malik.

Mrs Sweet said the woman had never told Malik her age when she was younger, but the woman disagreed and said he would phone her mobile and she would tell him she was at school.

The woman added: “And he knew what year I was in, which would have been Year 9 or Year 10 which would make me 13-14.”

Mrs Sweet said Malik claimed he had met the girl while she was at Rotherham College but the woman denied this and said they met in January 2003 when she was 13.

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Mrs Sweet said Malik claimed the first time he had sex with the girl was at an unknown address after she invited him in, said Mrs Sweet.

The girl refuted this claim and said she first had sex with Malik in an alleyway in Rotherham town centre and the second time was at a flat he took her to.

The woman said on a third occasion Malik had taken her back to the flat and she was forced to perform a sex act on five men including Malik.

Mrs Sweet said: “There's no disputing you and Massi ( as he was known) had sexual intercourse, its whether you consented or not, I am going to say you consented.”

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The woman replied: “It was not in any way that I was making a choice.

“There was no other choice and if there's no other choice it's not consent.”

Mrs Sweet said the girl had never been locked in a bedroom at the flat and she went along with the sexual activity to keep everybody happy and “to keep the party going”.

The woman answered: “No, I was a child and they were adults.

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“I didn't ‘go along with it to keep the party going’, I coudn't get out of the bedroom.

“I was 14, they were not going to let me go without getting what they wanted.”

She added: “It was not a 'party', I was their party, I was 14 years old.”

Malik (32) of Bridgewater Way, Rotherham, denies rape, false imprisonment and conspiracy to commit indecent assault.

 

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