Rotherham grooming gang: Man told teenager's mother he had sex with her daughter 'the other day', court hears

Abid Saddiq alleged to have made harrowing remark in town market - but he and five others deny string of offences

Colin Drury
Friday 23 August 2019 19:55 BST
Sheffield Crown Court
Sheffield Crown Court

A man said to have raped a vulnerable teenage girl told her mother in Rotherham market “I f****d your daughter the other day”, a court has heard.

Abid Saddiq, 38, is one of six men on trial over allegations they abused seven youngsters in the South Yorkshire town between 1998 and 2002.

Jurors at Sheffield Crown Court have spent the last six weeks hearing harrowing details of how the group committed rape, indecent assault and child abduction against seven schoolgirls – allegations they all deny.

Summing up the case on Friday, Judge Michael Slater explained how one complainant was aged 14 or 15 when she was allegedly taken down an alleyway and raped by Saddiq – before he bragged about the incident to her mother.

The judge read out the complainant’s interview with police from 2016, in which she told officers: “He took me by the arm and took me away. He took my trousers off and had sex with me. I wouldn’t say I was having sex back with him, because I wasn’t.”

She added: “Two days later he walked past my mum in Rotherham market and said: ‘I f****d your daughter the other day’.”

Her mother, she said, responded, by calling Saddiq – who is nicknamed Dopey Abdi – a “dirty b*****d”.

Judge Slater also reminded jurors the defendant himself had denied the allegations when he was called as a witness earlier in the trial.

He quoted Saddiq, a father-of-four from Masbrough, Rotherham, as saying: “I had nothing to do with any of them until they were over 18. It’s not them telling the truth, it’s me.”

He faces two counts of rape, five of indecent assault, and two of child abduction.

Sharaz Hussain, 35, of Fitzwilliam Road, Rotherham, and Masaued Malik, 35, are charged with four and three counts of indecent assault respectively.

Aftab Hussain, 40, is accused of two counts of indecent assault.

The final two defendants cannot be named for legal reasons, with one facing a charge of rape and three of indecent assault, and the other on trial for one count of indecent assault and two of child abduction.

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The men deny all the offences with the jury expected to be sent out next week.

The trial continues

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