Girl felt "scared and pressured" going into alleyway, Rotherham abuse trial told

A WOMAN has told a jury that she felt "pressured and scared" into going to an alleyway where she was allegedly repeatedly sexually abused.

The 34-year-old was giving evidence at a trial at Sheffield Crown Court today (Tuesday) where Abid Saddiq (38), of Walter Street, Masbrough, is accused of two counts of indecent assault against her.

Saddiq (pictured) is accused of ten offences in total against seven girls — two counts of rape, five counts of indecent assault, two counts of child abduction and one count of aiding and abetting another defendant to indecently assault.

He went on trial last Thursday alongside five other men who are charged with a total of 27 offences between 1998 to 2002.

The woman, referred to as Girl A, was asked under cross-examination from Mr Satyanand Beharrylal, defending Saddiq, whether she had a free choice about whether to go down an alleyway next to Boots in Rotherham town centre, where some of the offending is alleged to have taken place.

She said: “I felt like I was pressured into going down there after the first time.

“I felt scared.”

Mr Beharrylal asked her why she had told police during an interview that she looked about 16 at the time of the offences.

She said: “I would go out on occasion and look like that.

“But when I went out around Rotherham we used to look our age.”

The woman said she used to wear a bomber jacket, trainers and flared school trousers.

“Abid knew how old I was because I had my school uniform on,” she said.

She denied a suggestion by Mr Beharrylal that she dressed and acted older than 16. The woman also rejected a suggestion that she might have mistaken Saddiq for “others who had done her wrong”.

Mr Berharryl asked the woman whether she had received £16,500 in criminal injury compensation in August last year.

The woman said she could not remember.

Mr Berharryl said: “Would you agree that you have made these allegations so you can keep your compensation?”

The woman said: “I have not done it for compensation, no.”

Under re-examination by prosecutor Ms Ann Cotcher QC, the woman said: “I want justice for what happened to me as a child.”

Saddiq is accused of repeatedly indecently assaulting Girl A in an alleyway next to Boots in Rotherham between July, 1998 and July, 2000. He would have been between 17 and 19 at the time and the complainant would have been 13 or 14.

Saddiq is also accused of repeatedly indecently assaulting the same girl, in the same timeframe, but on different occasions.

Masaued Malik (34) is accused of indecently assaulting the same girl in Clifton Park in 1999 when he would have been 14 or 15 and the complainant would have been 13 or 14.

The charges have all been brought as part of the National Crime Agency’s Operation Stovewood investigation.

The men deny all the offences. The trial continues.