Groom gang abusers await their sentences

A ROCHDALE market stall holder known as 'Bossman' who groomed and raped two girls felt 'almost untouchable.

- BY ANDREW BARDSLEY

Mohammed Zahid

Mohammed Zahid is one of seven men facing justice for his part in the sexual abuse of two teenagers in the town in the mid 2000s.

A sentencing hearing at Minshull Street Crown Court heard that Zahid was the only of the seven defendants to have abused both girls, known as Girl A and Girl B.

Prosecutors told how Zahid, who was previously jailed for five years for sexual abuse of another girl, met these two victims through his 'prominent position at Rochdale indoor market.

"He was known as Boss man," prosecutor Rossano Scamardella KC said of Zahid. "Others knew him as Boss man, so did the girls."

Mr Scamardella said that Zahid was so 'confident' that he would call the care home where Girl B lived and ask to speak to her.

He told of the 'brazen way in which by the end of the abuse, in particular of [Girl B], he felt almost untouchable in what he was doing to her."

Speaking of Girl B, Mr Scamardella said: "She turned to social services. "She was let down. People knew, authorities knew, and nothing was done.”

Giving evidence at trial, Girl B said she was told that she had been 'prostituting herself'

She told jurors: "They said I was prostituting myself, is actually what the social worker said to me. It's vile."

Girl B added: "I don't remember them being concerned enough to do anything about it. They knew what was going on."

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