Vodka spree of girl, 13, in child-sex case

A YOUNG girl allegedly targeted by a child sexual exploitation gang told a court she would sometimes drink a litre of neat vodka “in one sitting” when she was with the older men.

But the girl, who was aged 13 when the alleged abuse began, denies being a victim of the gang and even says she was in a six-month relationship with one of the defendants.

Kabeer Hassan (24), of Lacrosse Avenue, Oldham, and 10 men from Rochdale all deny conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children under the age of 16.

The girl, who had an abortion at the age of 13, also told the jury that her relationship with the men led to her to study the Koran and that she even had her own English translation.

One the defendants whom the girl is alleged to have slept with is Abdul Qayyum.

Phillip Boyd, defending Qayyum, questioned whether she was mistaken in identifying his client and asked her about how much she would drink on these occasions.

He said: “There would be occasions when you would be drinking a litre of vodka at one sitting?”

“Yeah”, said the girl, who was giving evidence via a video link.

“Neat vodka?”

“Yeah,” she replied.

The girl, who is now 16, said she was drinking heavily “three or four times a week”.

Mr Boyd said: “Looking back that’s an enormous amount of drink isn’t it?” She agreed that it was.

The court heard that the girl had identified Qayyum, of Ramsay Street, Rochdale, by the nickname “Tiger” but also said she knew of two other men by the same nickname. Mr Boyd said she had identified the wrong man.

Earlier the court heard she had fallen pregnant by the defendant Adil Khan, who was known to her as Billy and had an abortion.

She said she was seeing Khan for “about six months” and described him as a boyfriend with whom she was in a relationship.

The case continues.