Girl 'lost count' of number of men she was raped by in two years of 'hell', court hears

A woman said she “lost count” of the number of men she was raped by when she was “passed around like a piece of meat” as a young girl, a court has heard.

The victim was allegedly forced to perform sex acts in a churchyard, raped above a takeaway, and violently abused if she resisted, jurors were told.

Five men are accused of the abuse which is alleged to have taken place in the Telford area of the West Midlands and started when the girl, now an adult, was just 12.

The assaults allegedly continued until she was in her mid-teens, Birmingham Crown Court heard.

Mohammed Ali Sultan, Amjad Hussain, Shafiq Younas, Nazam Akhtar and Mohammad Rizwan deny any wrongdoing.

Opening the case on Monday, Michelle Heeley QC said: “This case involves the sexual exploitation of a young girl, passed around like a piece of meat for the sexual gratification of several young men, some of whom are in the dock.

She added: “She was befriended at a time when she was low, by a man called Tanveer Ahmed.”

Ahmed did takeaway deliveries for Perfect Pizza in the town, with jurors told the location was relevant, as the victim claimed she was assaulted above the shop.

The jury heard Ahmed was not on trial alongside the other defendants, having been deported to Pakistan for “unrelated offences”.

It was alleged Ahmed then started forcing her to perform sex acts with other men, “selling her” for sex, including passing her details on, the prosecution said.

It was alleged that this was how the girl then came into contact with the first defendant, Mohammed Ali Sultan, 33, formerly of Telford, Shropshire.

Ali Sultan is facing four charges of indecent assault and one of rape.

Jurors were told: “Ali Sultan would take her to meet other men, in the same way Tanveer Ahmed had, men would phone her and Ali Sultan and Tanveer Ahmed would make her answer, and do what the men wanted.

“The abuse took place at a number of locations, including above Perfect Pizza and in a churchyard in Wellington, amongst others,” Ms Heeley added.

In video evidence the victim recounted two years of “hell”, in which she repeatedly contemplated taking her own life as she was traded to different men almost every day for “months and months”.

She said: “I lost count of how many men I was forced to have sex with.”

The girl recalled being picked up “every day, after school”, and “passed around” by Ahmed and later Ali Sultan, she claimed.

The jury of six men and six women were told Ali Sultan already had convictions in both 2012 and 2015 for “similar offences against young girls”.

Another of the victim’s alleged abusers is 38-year-old Amjad Hussain, of Acacia Drive, Leegomery, Telford, who is accused of forcing her to perform oral sex on two separate occasions.

A third man, 35-year-old Shafiq Younas, of Regent Street, Wellington, near Telford, is accused of orally raping the youngster in the same churchyard in Wellington.

Another male, Nazam Akhtar, of Victoria Avenue, Wellington, has been charged with rape, in an incident in which the girl was allegedly driven to a lane in a car along with Ali Sultan, Hussain, and another male.

Rizwan, 37, of Mafeking Road, Telford, faces two charges of indecent assault.

The men deny any wrongdoing. The trial continues.