A teenage victim of two Asian men who ran a sex slavery in which they groomed their white victims with drugs, drinks and gifts before assaulting them, said her attackers had robbed her of her 'innocence and childhood'.
The 17-year-old girl was one several victims of Mirza Baig, 35, and Mohammed Ditta, 39, who lured vulnerable teenage girls to a flat and forced them to perform sex acts.
The girls were groomed with gifts including drugs, mobile phone credit and cigarettes before they were trapped in Ditta's flat, stripped and sexually abused.
Yesterday, after the defendants - who are both married with children - were given indeterminate sentences for the protection of the public, one of their victims described how her ordeal had led her to become 'distant' with people.
The girl, who cannot be named, said: "It has definitely made me more aware and more distant with people - especially with men and Asian men in particular. Whenever I see an Asian male I get scared - its an immediate reaction.
"It's not because I am racist or anything, but because it reminds me of those men. It annoys me that I have been made to think like that.
"If I'm with people I know then it's fine but as soon as someone comes in that I don't know - I'm out of there.
"I stay in a lot more now. If I do go out then I get picked up from my house and dropped off there - and I don't got out alone.
"I have completely changed as a person. Before I used to be the one who was bubbly and chatty and always coming up with things to do. Now if I do go out with my mates, I just sit in the corner and don't really say anything - or get involved.
"I don't know how to speak to new people or make new friends anymore. I used to be bubbly, but now I'm quiet and shy. They took away my innocence and my childhood."
Baig, of Longdon Road, Longsight, Manchester, and Ditta of Newdale Road, Levenshulme, Manchester, were jailed indefinitely and told they must each serve at least three years before parole.
Passing sentence Judge Anthony Gee said: "These are despicable and truly shameful offences. Neither of you have displayed the slightest hint of remorse or regret."
The pair were arrested in May last year after an investigation by a team of social workers from Manchester Children's Services, detectives from Greater Manchester Police and project workers from the voluntary sector.
In the first incident, on April 18, 2007, Baig met up with two 15-year-old girls and drove them to Ditta's flat.
Once inside Ditta gave the girls drink and drugs. He offered to pay one of the girls £20 to have sex with him, but she refused so he punched her twice in the face.
A few weeks later on April 30, 2007 the third victim, who was also 15 at the time, went to the same flat with a girl she knew.
There, Ditta and Baig gave her drink and drugs. While she was heavily intoxicated, Baig then sexually assaulted her. He then trapped her in the bedroom and threatened to kill her.
Ditta also sexually assaulted her before she was able to escape.
One girl told Manchester Crown Court she was terrified and thought she was going to die after Ditta ordered her to have sex and threatened her with a gun.
Ditta was convicted of assault and sexual assault after a three week trial.
Baig was convicted of sexual assault and threats to kill after calling one girl a "slag" and saying he would shoot her if she did not have sex with him.
Both men are married with young children.
In some communities with large Asian populations, parents have complained Asian men have targeted white girls, who are seen as more liberal.
One of the victims now aged 17 said she now feared seeing Asian men in the street.
"It has definitely made me more aware. And more distant - especially with males. Asian males in particular. That is one of the things I hate about what happened. Whenever I see an Asian male I get scared - it's an immediate reaction.
"It's not because I am racist or anything, but because it reminds me of those men. It annoys me that I have been made to think like that.
"It's awful to think that way, and I hate that I do. I feel like I am being disrespectful and racist but that's not me."
"Hundreds of white girls, many as young as 12, are being lured into a world of group sex and prostitution by gangs of British born Pakistani men from West and South Yorkshire.
The girls are being introduced to their future 'pimps' by their classmates, often the brothers and cousins of these older men."If that sounds familiar then you won't be surprised to learn this was the subject of a Channel 4 documentary last year, titled Edge of the City, that sparked a big controversy when it was pulled from TV the first time around.
The second time, Blink and Eastern Eye launched a campaign to stop it, although I supported it being shown. C4 went ahead and showed it.But the description above isn't from last year - it is from a BBC Radio Five Live documentary broadcast this Sunday, 18th September.The report looked at the way in which "these children are 'groomed' into believing that these 'pimps' are in fact their boyfriends". It also asks why "so many of the men implicated in these crimes are British Pakistanis".Did Five Live simply regurgitated what was covered last year? In fact the truth is worse than that.It covered the same area (and slightly more) as the C4 doc. According to my sources, after the C4 report, West Yorkshire police set up a special unit to deal with the problem.
But that was recently shut down without explanation.Many, including the local community leaders (useless themselves in this), say the police is too afraid to tackle the issue - too politically correct and unwilling to disturb racial and religious sensibilities. The police also did not take part in the documentary or give any statement to the makers of the Five Live documentary. No explanation given.This is political correctness gone mad, something the journalists involved indicated in a Five Live phone-in on Monday morning.But there is another angle to all this. Sunday's doc had no reference to C4's investigation, so there was no context. The impression was given that this is a different case and quite possibly a different part of the country.What it should have said was - "A year after C4 uncovered abuse by Pakistani men of young white girls, nothing seems to have changed.
The abuse is carrying on, the police is powerless and has done little, and neither have the so-called community leaders." That would brought focus to why the police is failing the local community in tackling these youths. While being interviewed on radio after it was first shown on Channel 4, because of the controversy and my stance, I was frequently asked if this was a widespread problem, implying whether Muslim (or Asian) men picked on young white girls for cultural reasons. That is of course rubbish, and these are simply criminals, but the implication is there. That makes the BBC's lack of context all the more dangerous.Last time around the BNP and some of the right-wing press also used C4's documentary to further their own agenda (immigration, Islamophobia - you name it).
This time they could have done it again. Except no one, including the BNP, seems to have picked up on it.Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing, I'm not sure. Given there are innocent lives being destroyed here, I suspect it's the latter. It would have been better if Five Live had given this proper context nevertheless.
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