Girl kept alleged abuser happy because she didn't want to upset him, court told

The complainant - who we will refer to as Girl A – claims she was sexually abused by Azad Akram Raja, Amin Aslam and Yasser Iqbal Hussain between 2001 and 2004.

The woman would have been aged between 13 and 15 and the defendants would have been aged between 17 and 21 when the alleged abuse happened.

A fourth man, Faisal Hussain, is also on trial for sexually abusing another girl aged under 16 (Girl B) between January 2003 and June 2003, when he would have been aged 15 and 16.

Prosecutor Ms Jayne Beckett said the complainants hung around the “Meadowhall scene” — a reference to the shopping centre — where they met older males.

“The Crown say the whole Meadowhall scene was very seedy,” said Ms Beckett.

Girl A said in a recorded police interview played to the jury on Wednesday that she had first met Aslam when she was babysitting for a woman who used to bring Asian men home.

“They used to flirt with me when they came in and they used to make me feel good,” she said.

The woman said the men used to ask her to perform sexual acts on them.

She said the woman she babysat for “would bring about 30 Asians back”.

Girl A said in the interview that was recorded in 2016: “They told me to do things, and if I didn’t, they would threaten to spit on me.

At the house she met a man called “Shaun”, who the prosecution say is Raja, and she would meet up with him in Meadowhall.

“We would go under the bridge at Meadowhall and we used to do things under there,” she said.

Girl A said she had been about 13 or 14 when she first met Raja.

“Most of my time spent with Asians was with Azad [Raja],” she said.

“I still feel like it was a boyfriend/girlfriend thing.

“I don’t want to think it wasn’t, to be honest.”

The police officer asked her: “You have said Azad was your boyfriend and you said you used to sleep with him and gave him [oral sex].

“How many times do you think that that happened with Azad?”

She said: “Lots – as much as I possibly could.”

She said she would be made to feel guilty if she did not do it.

“I would try and have a laugh about it because I didn’t want to upset him,” she said.

“I used to try and keep him happy.”

Girl A said she had “slept with” Yasser Hussain once – and it had only been once because he had “made a mess of her neck”.

Raja (36), of Adney Street, Sheffield, denies three counts of rape and two counts of indecent assault between.

Aslam (37), of Leatham Avenue, Masbrough, denies one count of rape and one count of indecent assault

Yasser Iqbal Hussain (36), of Norborough Road, Tinsley, denies one count of rape and two counts of indecent assault.

Faisal Hussain (32), of Lovetot Road, Kimberworth, denies two counts of indecent assault.

The defendants have been charged as part of the National Crime Agency's investigation into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham.

The trial continues.