A grooming gang leader who thought he was ‘almost untouchable’ while raping two white schoolgirls in Rochdale has been jailed for 35 years.
Mohammed Zahid, 65, known as ‘Boss Man’, gave free underwear from his lingerie stall at Rochdale Indoor Market to both teenagers, with money, alcohol and food, in return for the expectation of regular sex with him and his friends.
The father-of-three was one of seven Asian men convicted in June, by a jury at Manchester Minshull Street Court, of committing various sexual offences against the girls between 2001 and 2006.
Both were treated as ‘sex slaves’ from the age of 13, said prosecutors, and expected to have sex ‘whenever and wherever’ the defendants and other men wanted, in filthy flats, on rancid mattresses, in cars, car parks, alleyways and disused warehouses.
Girl A told the jury she could have been targeted by more than 200 offenders as her phone number was swapped in the town but said ‘there was that many it was hard to keep count’.
Giving evidence, Girl B said she was living in a local children’s home when she was preyed on by Zahid and fellow market traders Mushtaq Ahmed, 67, and Kasir Bashir, 50, who were all born in Pakistan.
She said she presumed various agencies knew what was going on as police regularly picked her up after social workers labelled her a ‘prostitute’ from the age of 10.
Zahid, of Station Road, Crumpsall, thought he was ‘almost untouchable’ as he brazenly visited the care home to pick her up and later drop her off, the court heard.
He was convicted of raping Girl A and Girl B, who did not know each other, on multiple occasions.
Jurors also found him guilty of offences of indecency with a child and procuring a child to have sex.
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In 2016, Zahid was jailed for five years after he was convicted of engaging in sexual activity in 2005 and 2006 with a 14-year-old girl whom he met when she visited his stall to buy tights for school.
He was one of many men who called her phone number ‘out of the blue’ and went on to groom the ‘extremely vulnerable’ teenager.
Ahmed, 67, of Oldham, and Bashir, 50, formerly of Oldham, were jailed for 27 years and 29 years after they were found guilty of multiple counts of rape and indecency with a child, in relation to Girl B.
Bashir was sentenced in his absence after he absconded while on bail before the trial got under way. He is believed to be out of the country.
Taxi drivers Mohammed Shahzad, 44, Naheem Akram, 49, and Nisar Hussain, 41, all of Rochdale, were each convicted of multiple counts of rape against Girl A.
Both Shahzad and Akram were jailed for 26 years and Hussain was sentenced to 19 years in prison.
Roheez Khan, 39, of Athole Street, Rochdale, was jailed for 12 years after he was found guilty of a single count of rape against Girl A.
Social services and police have apologised for their past failings surrounding the victims.
Sentencing, Judge Jonathan Seely said: ‘Both girls were highly vulnerable, both had deeply troubled backgrounds and were known to the authorities. They were highly susceptible to the advances of these men and others, and both were sexually abused by numerous other men.
‘They were passed around for sex – abused, humiliated, degraded and then discarded.
‘Both were seriously let down by those whose job it was to protect them.’
He said Girl B was ‘failed woefully’ and noted how she was ‘chillingly described’ in a social services document as having prostituted herself at 10 years old.
The judge said both victims had suffered ‘incessant abuse’, and as children had been targeted by ‘gangs of sexually predatory men’.
Zahid, Judge Seely said, had a ‘callous disregard’ for the vulnerabilities of the girls and a ‘complete lack of humanity’ towards them.
He said Girl B had to relive being ‘appallingly abused’ as Zahid repeatedly took her down to a dark cellar where she was raped on a ‘filthy mattress’.
He told Zahid: ‘It must have been a truly terrible ordeal, but you simply didn’t care.’
His ‘campaign of rape’ was followed by a similar pattern of offending against Girl A, the judge said.
Zahid also introduced Khan to Girl A who watched him rape her in a flat in Rochdale before the latter went on to also rape her.
Following sentence, Liz Fell, specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service’s organised child sexual abuse unit, said: ‘I would like to take this opportunity to thank both victims who have shown an enormous amount of strength and dignity throughout what has been a lengthy and challenging legal process.
‘Their determination to see justice done has been fundamental to securing these convictions.
‘None of the defendants have shown the slightest remorse for what they have put the survivors through. By maintaining their denials and refusing to accept responsibility, they forced these brave women to relive the abuse they suffered at their hands through a five-month trial.’
Detective Chief Inspector Guy Laycock, of Greater Manchester Police, said: ‘The team of dedicated investigators on this case have put thousands of hours into securing this outcome.
‘They’ve supported the victims throughout to piece together all the evidence. Bringing child abusers to justice is why we work so tirelessly day-in, day-out, and I am so pleased for the victims that we have been able to help deliver this justice for them.’
