A mother may not have told police that her husband was sexually abusing her 12-year-old daughter because of ‘cultural factors’, a court has been told.
The husband was convicted on Wednesday of rape, sexual assaults and ill-treatment of the girl – his step-daughter – over the course of several years.
Reading Crown Court heard that the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, would be ‘screaming at the defendant to stop’ forcefully hitting her.
She lived with the 34-year-old defendant – who listened to the trial via a Punjabi interpreter – in her mother’s flat in Windsor, Berkshire, which was in a squalid condition.
Pictures displayed to the jury showed dirty laundry stacked in the bathroom, a filthy cooker and oven and piles of dishes which had not been cleaned.
The girl told police the step-father would ‘hit her for his own pleasure’ and would just ‘storm into her room’ and slap her in the face.
She also detailed disturbing sexual abuse such as him touching her sexually and most seriously one instance in which he raped her. All the offending took place between 2017 and 2021.
The court heard the girl had not told her mother about the sexual abuse, but she had confronted her over the fact the step-father hit her and her mother did not do anything about it.
Reading Crown Court, pictured, heard that a mother may not have told police that her husband was sexually abusing her 12-year-old daughter because of ‘cultural factors’
The girl told police the step-father would ‘hit her for his own pleasure’ and would just ‘storm into her room’ and slap her in the face. File image
Mark Gadsden, prosecuting, told jurors: ‘You will think that would be the worst thing in the world, this particular mother decided not to act.
‘She was in thrall to the defendant, she was in love with the defendant, she had just had the defendant’s child.
‘It may or may not be there are cultural factors at work as well. She was used to not having an argument with the male of the house. Who knows, we did not see her, we do not know.’
But the prosecutor pointed to the pictures of the family home taken by police, adding: ‘That sort of mother, who was prepared to leave the kitchen in that kind of condition and the sink in that kind of condition, might be the sort of person who did not respond positively to her child asking for help.’
Neither the prosecution nor the defence had called the mother to give evidence as a witness during the trial, something the jury had questioned in a written note.
The judge in the case instructed them not to speculate as to the reasons why they had not heard from the mother.
The jury unanimously convicted the defendant of ill-treatment of a person under 16, two counts of sexual assault of a child under 13 and one count of rape of a child under 13.
Mr Recorder Jeremy Benson KC told jurors: ‘A substantial custodial sentence is likely to be the result, as a result of the kind of offending and the breach of trust.’
The step-father was remanded into custody ahead of a sentencing date to be fixed.