Child sex abuse trial: Victim withdrew complaint "after police lost evidence"

A SCHOOLGIRL dropped her rape complaint against a man on trial for sexually exploiting her more than a decade ago because police lost vital evidence, a court heard.

The woman, now 27, said that when she was 13, she withdrew her complaint against defendant Sageer Hussain just days after making it in April 2003 because the police lost her clothes and would not protect her.

Under cross-examination, Mrs Kitty Taylor, defending Sageer, asked why she had withdrawn the complaint against the then 17-year-old accused.

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The woman said: “I withdrew it because they (the police) would not give me any protection and told me already that they had lost my clothes, so there was no DNA evidence, it was my word against his.”

The complainant also revealed that she was never asked to attend an identity parade in 2003 to identify the man who she claimed had raped her.

It was not until 12 years later — in June 2015 — that the woman was asked by police to attend a parade to identify Sageer.

Mrs Taylor asked if she had picked Sageer out on the parade after seeing his image in the press after he had appeared in an interview on Channel 4 in around 2012.

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But the woman replied that the image she had been shown of Sageer was an old image from 2003 and that was how she knew him.

She added: “I would never forget his face, I would know his face even in 40 years if I saw it.”

Sageer Hussain, along with the other defendants, deny all the charges against them.

The trial continues.

q Sageer Hussain is referred to by his first name as his brother Basharat Hussain (40), is also on trial.

 

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