I have no evidence that race was a factor in this crime. Therefore I wish to make it clear that I am not claiming that race was a factor in the 3 males selection of the victim. In fact we don't even know the race of the victim (the less known in the general public the better for this poor girl I think, no need to drag out her suffering).A teenage girl was raped four times by a gang who took pictures of the abuse on their mobile phones.
The 16-year-old victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was attacked in the attic room of a house in Rochdale on 28 May 2008.
The girl's mother called her mobile phone after noticing she was missing from their home, only to hear the cries of her daughter on the end of the line.
Her four attackers, aged 17 to 20, pleaded guilty at Bolton Crown Court.
The girl had gone to the house after being called on her mobile.
I am of the view she will never be able to fully recover from the long lasting trauma of these offences
Case expert's opinion
While there she drank Jack Daniels whiskey and was possibly drugged with some form of sleeping medicine before being sexually assaulted, the court heard.
Ajmal Alfridi, 19, raped the girl twice along with Imitaz Syed, 20, and Tayub Hussain, who each raped the girl once.
They will be sentenced at a later date. Virginia Hayton, prosecuting, told the court that Alfridi and Syed sexually assaulted the victim while Mustafa Arshad, 17, took two photos of the abuse on his mobile phone.
At one point, the judge was told, she was unable to move or speak, but could vaguely remember Syed being in the same room as her.
Repeating name
Her mother discovered she was not at their house and was "frantically" calling her mobile phone until it was answered and she could hear "Asian male voices".
"In the background and through those Asian male voices she heard a female voice she recognised as that of her daughter. She was repeating a name," Miss Hayton said.
The mother then left home to look for her daughter and discovered her wandering in a dazed state in the street.
She could not recall what had happened but had bruising on her hip.
A day later she found evidence of the sexual assault and police were called.
The court heard a report from an expert in this type of case, which said: "I am of the view she will never be able to fully recover from the long lasting trauma of these offences."
Indecent photos
Alfridi pleaded guilty to two rapes and sexual assault and Syed admitted rape and sexual assault.
Arshad pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the sexual assault of the girl and taking two indecent photos.
He was sentenced to eight months in a young offenders' institute.
Another man, Mohammed Usman Raja, 20, of Free Trade Street, Rochdale, also pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice. He was jailed for six months.
Passing sentence, Judge William Morris told Arshad: "By taking photos you made a permanent record of her being degraded in this way."
However, if the girl is white, given that her attackers are all likely to be either of Middle Eastern, Pakistani or Somalia in origin (Pakistani is the most likely bluntly), you can bet that certain English parties will be making hay out of this I think.
It also makes me wonder. We have seen evidence in the past that victims of various crimes (a young teen in North England a few years back being beaten to death because he was white, attacks on Pakistanis and Somalians) were chosen because of their race... I have to ask the English members of the board, do you think things like this are increasing and are a problem?
