Rotherham abuse trial told girls 'raped, beaten and passed between men'

Teenage girls in Rotherham were repeatedly raped, beaten, passed between abusers and used as prostitutes, a court has heard.

A jury was told one girl was locked in a house in the South Yorkshire town for weeks as she was forced to have sex with a succession of Asian men.

She sometimes had sex with men three times a day fearing she would be hurt if she did not comply, prosecutors told Sheffield Crown Court.

Jurors were also told how a 12-year-old girl was forced to perform sex acts with a group of men in a car after she was picked up from a children's home, and how another girl was called a "white bitch and trash" after she was forced to have oral sex.

Prosecutor Michelle Colborne QC outlined these alleged incidents in the opening of the trial of five men and two women accused of roles in the sexual exploitation of children in the South Yorkshire town over a period of more than 10 years.

Ms Colborne said 12 women will tell the jury they were "targeted, sexualised and in some instances subjected to acts of a degrading and violent nature".

She said a number of these girls got pregnant during the abuse.

Arshid Hussain, 40, Qurban Ali, 53, Majid Bostan, 37, Sajid Bostan, 38, Basharat Hussain, 39, Karen MacGregor, 58, and Shelley Davies, 40, all deny a total of 63 charges between them.

Ms Colborne said Arshid Hussain - known as Mad Ash - played a key role.

She said: "He used them for his own gratification, then often prostituted them or passed them on to his brothers or associates of his.

"He was assisted in differing ways by the other defendants, each willingly engaged in exploitative behaviour and using the girls to their own ends."

One alleged victim, who is now 36, was subjected to regular sex attacks by Arshid Hussain when she was in the care of the local authority, Ms Colborne said.

The prosecutor told the jury: "His exploitation of (her) was violent and protracted.

"Initially she attempted to say no but was always beaten if she refused and quickly learned to give in to his demands."

Ms Colborne said: "He passed her to his brother and friends and, over time, gave her as a payment to men for debts he owed.

"She was beaten, had a cigarette stubbed out on her chest, she was tied up, she was raped orally, vaginally and anally from a very young age, often by numerous men, one after the other, at the say-so of Arshid Hussain."

She told the court: "Her recollection is that the violence became a regular thing when she lived at the children's home and seemingly no-one was interested in whether she returned in a bloodied state."

The prosecutor said the girl told children's home staff what was happening but they accused her of "covering up for running away".

Ms Colborne said: "Throughout these years in the care system, before (the girl) turned 16, she had to have sex with different Asian men on a daily basis.

"They were older than her. Some were in their 30s and sometimes there were up to three a day.

"Arshid Hussain would put pressure on her to do it and leave her with no choice - if she loved him, she would do it, if she didn't then he would hurt her."

Ms Colborne told the jury how, at one point, this girl stayed at MacGregor's house for a number of weeks and "she wasn't permitted to leave".

The prosecutor said another victim, who is now 43, was plied with alcohol and sexually assaulted by an unknown man at MacGregor's house.

She told the jury of six men and six women: "The prosecution say she deliberately set out to make girls available for sexual encounters with older men."

Turning to another of the alleged victims, Ms Colborne said Basharat Hussain - Arshid Hussain's brother - picked this girl up from a children's home when she was 12.

She said a staff member said it was okay to take her and bring her back by 11pm.

Despite telling Basharat Hussain - known as Bash - her age and that she was a virgin, she was forced to have oral sex with him and other men in a car, the prosecutor said.

Another alleged victim ended up in prison after handling drugs and guns for the Hussain brothers, Ms Colborne said.

She said the complainant said the brothers "owned Rotherham" and she did what they told her to do.

The prosecutor said that during one sexual assault, when the girl was 14, Arshid Hussain called her a "a white bitch and trash".

The trial continues.