Runaway teen woman ‘raped in resort room stuffed with males’ together with one with ‘rat-like face’
Arqash Zaffar, nicknamed ‘Mikey’, has been accused of picking up the girl in his car in Birmingham and exploiting her over a number of days during the summer of 2019
A “vulnerable” 16-year-old girl who had fled from home was repeatedly raped in a hotel room packed with men, a court was told. Arqash Zaffar, dubbed ‘Mikey’, stands accused of collecting the girl in his car in Birmingham and exploiting her over several days during the summer of 2019.
It is alleged his friend, Shiraz Nassar, known as ‘Soldier’, also raped her after she was brought to his house in Manchester whilst another accomplice Mohammed Nadim, aka ‘Dimma’, allegedly sexually assaulted the girl in the rear of a vehicle.
A fourth defendant Shahban Arif, described as a man with a ‘rat-like face’, was said to have been involved in her exploitation by reserving a hotel room in Walsall where she was attacked.
All four men are on trial at Birmingham Crown Court denying various charges, reports Birmingham Live. Opening the case on Tuesday, November 11, prosecutor Tim Clark KC said: “She was a vulnerable teenager – she was known to social services.
“She had been reported missing from her home on a number of occasions. One of those occasions when she had gone missing was beween July 11 and August 12, 2019.
“The Crown’s case is she spent some of that time in the company of these four men. It’s the Crown’s case three of these defendants, Zaffar, Nadim and Nassar either sexually exploited her themselves or were present when she was sexually assaulted.
“Zaffar and Arif were involved in her exploitation sexually by others.”
The jury heard that the girl only recognised the defendants by their nicknames, except for Arif who was given the moniker ‘rat’ after the girl described him as possessing a ‘rat-like face’.
Mr Clark revealed that upon her return home on August 12, 2019, she confided the allegations to her social worker, who noted she was ‘extremely upset’.
He stated the girl ‘felt dirty’ and requested to be taken for a sexually transmitted infection screening. She also kept a journal ‘as a form of therapy’, Mr Clark explained, though he cautioned there were inconsistencies between the diary entries and her subsequent police statements.
He also recognised that the complainant, now an adult, was ‘unclear’ about precise dates but emphasised: “Her brain remembered the trauma but not the timetable.”
The prosecutor highlighted that several of the alleged crimes centred on the matter of ‘consent’.
Mr Clark explained the girl informed the defendants she was 19 at the time, but stressed she lacked both the ‘freedom or capacity’ to provide consent. He reminded the jury that simply acquiescing to sexual activity was ‘not the same’.
The girl informed police she first met Zaffar in his BMW on Alum Rock Road in Birmingham with Nadim, where the former requested her phone number.
She claimed she declined and boarded a bus to the city centre, only to encounter the same two men in the identical vehicle on the same street approximately a week later whilst visiting a mobile phone shop.
On this occasion, she consented to accompany them, the court was told. It was claimed she was initially driven to a dead end and asked to kiss both men, who had exposed themselves.
The court heard that she was then taken to a car park where Nadim sexually assaulted her in the back of the BMW, before Zaffar forced her to perform oral sex on him ‘even though she was saying no and pushed him away’, said Mr Clark.
He stated that the girl was then taken to a hotel in Walsall for a few days where Zaffar forced her into performing oral sex on him again, this time in the presence of a ‘baby faced’ man referred to as ‘Young Boy’.
The girl further recalled to police that she was driven to Nassar’s home in Manchester with a ‘small, proper skinny old guy’, thought to be Arif, and that she felt ‘uncomfortable’ at the men taking cocaine.
Mr Clark said: “It is the Crown’s case that the third defendant (Arif) was facilitating her travel, exchanging control of her when he knew, or ought to have known that she was likely being exploited.
“As we will see we also know Mr Arif booked a hotel in Walsall which was used to house her.”
It is alleged Zaffar and Nassar raped the girl while in Manchester. From there it is believed she was taken back to a hotel in Walsall.
Mr Clark said: “There were four young men in the room. She went to the toilet and could hear through the door Mikey (Zaffar) boasting to the men about her, representing she was sexually available.
“This made her reluctant to leave the bathroom. However she did eventually. Then followed in the hotel a series of sexual acts instigated by Mikey involving all five men.”
He told the court she was raped in the room by Zaffar and then by the other four men, who have not been identified.
Mr Clark said the girl claimed Zaffar ‘didn’t have any mercy’.
The trial heard she was ultimately dropped off at Selfridges in Birmingham after showing Zaffar, who had control over her phone, she had a text about a probation appointment.
Mr Clark said: “That was the last time she saw the defendants. She spent the weekend drinking with excess while dealing with what had happened.
“She thought she had been found at a Birmingham library on a Sunday. She told police the first person she told what had happened was her social worker.”
The prosecutor told the court all four defendants accepted being in the girl’s company at some point but denied wrong-doing. He said Zaffar told police the allegations against him were ‘disgusting’, adding he believed them to be a ‘setup’.
Mr Clark said Zaffar’s case was that there were occasions of consensual oral sex, but he denied anyone else being present or being present himself while other men had sexual activity with her.
Zaffar, 41, from Walsall, denies five charges of rape, four counts of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent, and one count of arranging or facilitating the travel of another person with a view to exploitation.
Nadim, 44, also from Walsall, denies a single charge of sexual assault, while Arif, 42, from the same town, refutes the lone exploitation charge.
Nassar, 40, hailing from Denton in Manchester, has entered a plea of not guilty to a rape charge. The trial is ongoing.
