Two men who raped a 14-year-old girl after plying her with alcohol and cigarettes have been jailed as part of the long-running investigation into sexual abuse committed by predominately Pakistani men in Rotherham.
Kessur Ajaib, 44, and Mohammed Makhmood, 43, both of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, separately attacked the girl between 1999 and 2002.
Ajaib met the ‘vulnerable’ teenager in Rotherham town centre, gave her alcohol and then lured her into an alleyway where he raped her, Sheffield Crown Court heard.
Makhmood met the girl on another occasion when she was waiting at a bus stop.
He invited her to smoke a cigarette with him then led her to a graveyard where he raped her. After attacking the girl he is said to have spat at her and laughed at her.
The men stood trial earlier this year alongside Sageer Hussain, who was described as the ‘ringleader’ of a group of men who sexually abused girls in Rotherham more than 20 years ago.
He was already serving a 19-year prison sentence for a ‘campaign of violent rape’ against a girl in the town and was given a further three years last month after he was convicted of the rape of another victim.
Their trial heard that he told one victim she ‘deserved it and that is what white girls were for.’
At Sheffield Crown Court today, Ajaib was jailed for eight years and six months for rape and indecent assault while Makhmood was given a seven-year prison sentence for rape.
Kessur Ajaib (left) and Mohammed Makhmood were jailed for a total of more than 15 years today after they were convicted of rape following a trial at Sheffield Crown Court
The men were prosecuted as part of the National Crime Agency’s [NCA’s] Operation Stovewood, which is looking into allegations of sexual abuse in Rotherham and is the largest investigation into child sexual exploitation and abuse in the UK.
The probe is investigating allegations of abuse in the town between 1997 and 2013 and was prompted by the publication of a report written by Professor Alexis Jay in 2014 which found at least 1,400 underage girls, some as young as 11, had been abused.
The children were often vulnerable or in care and were raped, trafficked and intimidated by groups of largely Asian men.
The NCA said today that 49 people have now been convicted as part of Operation Stovewood.
NCA officer Alan Hastings said: ‘I would like to recognise how courageous the victim was in reporting the sexual abuse that Kessur Ajaib and Mohammed Makhmood subjected her to as a child.
‘It must have been extremely difficult for the woman to relive that period in her life, but the information she shared enabled us to identify corroborating evidence and secure justice for her.
‘I hope it will bring the woman some closure to know that Ajaib and Makhmood are now in prison.’
