Brierfield man jailed for rape of girl (16)

A Brierfield man has been jailed for four years and eight months for rape.

Mohammed Qazim (25), of Berry Street, Brierfield, was one of four men accused of raping a 16-year-old girl. The other three were cleared.

The men said the teenager had consensual oral sex but, after deliberating for more than 10½ hours, a jury of 10 men and two women found Qazim guilty by a majority verdict of 11 to 1.

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Mohammed Sikander (24), of Colne Road, Burnley, Amad Khan (25), of Parrock Road, Bradford, and formerly of Whalley Street, Burnley; and Haiyat Khan (19), of Ryberg Street, Bradford, and formerly of Thursby Square, Burnley, were cleared when they appeared at Burnley Crown Court. The prosecution claimed the offences happened when the girl was taken to Manchester in a car. Qazim was the driver. The court was told the other defendants got out of the car when it returned to Burnley. Qazim told the girl: “It’s my turn now.”

Amad Khan denied prosecutor Joe Boyd’s suggestion the men were treating the girl like a sex object.

Khan said that when he, Haiyat Khan and Sikinder got out of the car in Burnley the girl had jumped in the passenger seat to be with Qazim.

James Heyworth, for Qazim, said the complainant had been happy to get in the car and drink vodka as she had argued with her boyfriend and wanted to get back at him. He said when the car returned to Burnley and the other passengers got out it would have been a good point to “leg it”, had she wanted. The girl told the court she believed Qazim was going to take her back to her boyfriend’s house. Instead, he drove to a cul-de-sac near Barden Lane where the offence took place.

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The girl claimed she had been pulled and shoved into the car after she asked the occupants if they knew the whereabouts of the nearest public phone box. Sikander said the girl had asked if she could chill with them as he and his friends cruised round the streets. He said the girl told him: “I think you are cute” and began kissing and cuddling him, and undoing his clothes, but he said he had rebutted her advances.

He said he was ashamed and embarrassed after being arrested and had had enough of her lies. While in the car, he said, she had played with his phone, and had said she wanted to keep in touch with him.

He accepted he has kissed her and bitten her cheek but had been embarrassed and did not want to talk about it. “I couldn’t say no. I did want her to do it,” he told the court.

Haiyat Khan said the car had travelled to Manchester before he asked the girl to pay attention to him. He said he did not force her and only asked because she had done it to Sikander.

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Amad Khan said the girl had opened the car door and jumped in of her own accord. He accepted he bought vodka for himself and Sikander and said he had been tipsy, rather than drunk.

“I said can I get in the back with you and she said yes. She was very happy. She wanted me.”

He said he had called her a dog during the police interview only because he had been mad she had told lie after lie.

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