Problem has been lingering for years

REACTING to the recent Rochdale case, Samantha says it’s wrong it has taken such a traumatic case to get the issue in the open.

Newspapers across the country have carried countless articles and debates on the high-profile trial and its fallout. But Samantha knows the problem has been lingering for years.

She said: “This shouldn’t happen to anybody. It’s ridiculous that it has to take five girls, as in this case, for people to sit up and take notice.

“I’ve been dealing with it for six years. I think it needed to be blown up in the media and across the country to get more people talking about it and the sentencing changed.”

In the Rochdale case a total of nine men were found guilty and jailed for their parts in the sickening circle of abuse.

They included takeaway worker Kabeer Hassan (25), of Lacrosse Avenue in Oldham, who was jailed for nine years for rape and three years, concurrently, for conspiracy.

The Oldham ringleader, a 59-year-old man who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced to 19 years.

She said: “I thought 19 years was a good sentenced, I’m just gutted the same didn’t happen with my case. People have now realised that things like this do go in places like Oldham and Rochdale.

“There are cultural problems, I find it hard to trust people now – especially Asian men. People all over the place suddenly start saying that it’s horrific.

“I know first hand how horrific it is.”

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