The Transcripts

This Kirklees grooming gang case involved two men sentenced separately - Amjad Hussain and Ebrahim Pandor - who sexually exploited a vulnerable girl who had already suffered sexual abuse in her family home as a young child. The victim spent as little time as possible at home, hanging out in public areas thinking they were safer, but this made her more vulnerable and an "easy target" for further abuse. Amjad Hussain was convicted of rape committed when the victim was 18-19 years old, having plied her with drink and drugs before orally raping her at her house in an aggressive and brutal manner, showing no remorse and receiving 10 years imprisonment. Ebrahim Pandor was convicted of trafficking the same victim when she was 13-14 years old and he was 24-25, trafficking her to a hotel or apartment in Manchester and a factory in Bradford where she was then subjected by others to harmful sexual abuse including unsafe and degrading penetrative activity, with the judge finding Pandor arranged for others to come to these locations with his knowledge and facilitation. The victim's life became chaotic as she unsuccessfully sought safer places than home, tragically increasing her vulnerability. She stopped going to school because her "head was a mess" from drinking and drugs, leaving in her second year, and made multiple suicide attempts including slitting her wrists, jumping out of a window, and taking dangerous drugs with excessive alcohol, simply wanting to die and escape everything in her head. At 14 years and eight months, she was put into secure accommodation for over six months by the Local Authority for her own safety. She has been diagnosed with complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder caused by the trauma, describing her existence as "a constant state of grief" with thoughts of what happened to her present all the time. She fled England with a young baby due to fear, won't leave her house without her partner even for shopping or the school run, and feels her children are missing out because leaving the house is so stressful for her. Notably, Pandor received only six years imprisonment for trafficking despite the severity of the offence - significantly lower than the eight-year sentences given to other defendants convicted of trafficking in the same operation. The judge stated that "the custodial sentences that I have passed on this indictment are the shortest necessary commensurate with the seriousness of the offending," citing Pandor's positive good character references, the impact on his family including his wife and stepson Zinedine, and the fact that his trafficking conviction stood alone rather than in conjunction with other sexual offences as mitigating factors.