Child abuse trial: 'We needed help,' says aunt of pregnant teenage sisters

The sisters’ aunt told a jury she scoured the streets looking for her nieces — but knew there would be “repercussions” if the girls didn’t go out.

Eight men are currently on trial at Sheffield Crown Court accused of 28 child sexual exploitation offences against five girls between 1998 and 2005.

Mohammed Imran Akhtar (37)  — known as Imran — of Godstone Road, Rotherham, is charged with sexually abusing the sisters between 2000 and 2003.

In a statement read out in court today, the aunt said the girls had a “normal childhood” until they reached adolescence.

She said: “At the ages of around 12 and 13, they became embroiled with Asian boys and men, they were constantly going out in vehicles and going to Rotherham town centre.”

The aunt said that this had been a very difficult time for the family and the family had struggled to “chastise” the girls.

The girls gave their elders “cheek” and even assaulted an older relative, she said.

The aunt said social services and the police had become involved.

She recalled walking six miles into Rotherham town centre one evening looking for the girls.

She said: “I was concerned for them, I wanted them to come home.

“I didn’t find them and walked back home.”

The aunt said she recalled the girls talking to each other about “Mad Ash, Imran, Ishy and Bono”, adding: “I also knew that if they didn’t go out there would be repercussions.

“We had our front room window smashed."

She added: "At the time, this was not reported to police.”

The aunt said the girls’ behaviour had “deteriorated” and they had become “out of control”, adding: “This is why we had to get social services involved — we needed help.”

Medical records show one of the girls had a termination and several years later both sisters gave birth to children when they were aged 16 and under.

Prosecutor Mr Peter Hampton said a DNA test had proved Akhtar was not the child’s father.

A statement was also read out from a schoolfriend of one of the girls who said they would truant together aged 13.

She said they would hang around in Clifton Park and near the River Don outside Rotherham’s Main Street police station, adding: “We would always meet up with Pakistani males who appeared to be a lot older.”

She said her friend had once told her she had to give an Asian male oral sex “or we couldn’t go home”.

The schoolfriend said she had refused but then the complainant performed oral sex on the male instead.

“This incident was like a wakeup call for me — that was the last time I went to Rotherham,” the friend said.

The woman recalled another incident when she had witnessed the complainant getting beaten up by a large group of Pakistani boys and girls “near to a river and bridge”.

“Both the men and women were beating her up — I tried to intervene but some of the men took hold of me.” she said.

The woman said they had thrown the girl’s trainers into the river.

“At that point, a policeman walked past the bridge,” she added.

“Everyone ran away, the policeman didn’t ask us what had been happening, he just carried on his way.”

The woman said the complainant must have been injured because of the “ferocity” of the beating.

“I don’t remember the incident being reported to police or the police coming to see us,” she added.

Another schoolfriend recalled how one of the complainants would attend school after “staying out all night with Pakistani males.”

She added: “She appeared to feel special, as if she was the chosen one.”

Speaking about her friend now, she added: “What happened in the past has become a closed secret.

“She’s ashamed and it’s hard for her to talk about it.

“She’s very matter of fact when she does — she talks as if it was someone else in another life.”

The men deny all the offences. The trial continues.