'My life has been on hold for 20 years...'

WOMEN ABUSED AS TEENAGERS SPEAK OUT IN COURT

- By ANDREW BARDSLEY

TRIBUTES were paid to the 'extraordinary courage' of two women who were raped and abused as children in Rochdale, as they laid bare the horrendous consequences of their ordeals.

Girl A and Girl B, as they are known, gave emotional statements at a sentencing hearing where seven men are due to face justice for their crimes against the girls. Girl A said the abuse had 'destroyed' her life, while Girl B said she had felt 'shame and guilt all my life' for what her abusers did to her.

But Girl A described the guilty verdicts was 'another step forward to get my life back,' while Girl B said that 'a massive weight lifted off me' when she learned of the convictions. Girl B read out her statement in court from the witness box, and looked on at the defendants as she movingly spoke. Judge Jonathan Seely paid tribute to the 'extraordinary courage' of both women.

The abusers had all denied the charges they faced.

The girls, who were teenagers at the time in the mid 2000s, were groomed and sexually abused for years. They were treated as 'sex slaves' and were expected to have sex 'whenever and wherever' in filthy flats, on rancid mattresses, in cars, car parks, alleyways and disused warehouses.

Their abusers were mainly either taxi drivers or market stall traders in the town. The girls were 'passed around' for sex by the predators before being discarded.

Mohammed Zahid was the only offender to abuse both girls. Kasir Bashir fled the country while on bail ahead of the trial, and is due to be sentenced in his absence.

In her statement, Girl B told the court: “I coped with what these men did to me, as at the time I believed that every man I came into contact with would expect sex. It is horrific that I didn’t know any different.