REMORSELESS BROTHERS WHO TARGETED VULNERABLE TEENAGE GIRLS IN ‘DESPICABLE, SICKENING’ SEX CRIMES JAILED. Muhammad Hussain, 20, and Hashim Hussain, 24, have been jailed for a total of more than ten years
May 15, 2021
Thomas George
Manchester Evening News
Two remorseless brothers who targeted vulnerable teenage girls in order to sexually abuse them have been jailed.
Muhammad Hussain, 20, and Hashim Hussain, 24, have been convicted of a string of 'despicable and sickening' sex offences against young girls in Bury.
The pair were jailed for a total of more than ten years at Minshull Street Crown Court today (Friday, May 14).
Muhammad Hussain was sentenced to six years and two months in prison after a jury found him guilty of raping a 14-year-old girl and sexually assaulting another girl, also aged 14.
Meanwhile, Hashim Hussain was sentenced to four years behind bars after he filmed a group of men engaging in sexual activity with two other girls, aged 16 and 17, on two separate occasions.
The offending took place between August 2016 and August 2017.
The court heard how the brothers would regularly meet up with a group of teenage girls in Openshaw Park, in Bury, and buy vodka for them before heading to the home of one of the girls.
Muhammad was just 16 himself when he raped his 'extremely vulnerable' victim in August 2016.
Prosecutor Henry Blackshaw said the girl, who was known to social services and deemed at 'high risk of child sexual exploitation', invited Muhammad to a house party at her friend's house.
Alcohol was being consumed and the pair kissed before they were encouraged to go upstairs together.
Once in an upstairs bedroom, the girl initially engaged in consensual sexual intercourse with Muhammad.
But the court heard she then repeatedly asked him to slow down as it was 'hurting her'.
However, Muhammad pushed her head down into the pillow and carried on having sex with her.
The girl then started crying and told him to get off her, said Mr Blackshaw.
When she managed to move away from him and started to get dressed, the court heard Muhammad called the girl a ‘f****** bitch’ and told her ‘finish me off’.
She left the room but, feeling under pressure, returned and asked Muhammad what she had to do.
He threatened to tell her on-off boyfriend that they had had sex if she did not comply.
Muhammad later contacted the victim to apologise and 'begged her to send pictures of her bottom', which she refused to do.
On another occasion, between March and May 2017, Muhammad filmed the girl and her friend performing oral sex on him.
The court heard the victim wanted 'to shut the incident out' and it was eight months before she told a social worker she had been raped.
She was interviewed by police in February 2018 as part of an operation - codenamed Burgos - into child sexual exploitation in Bury.
In a victim impact statement read out in court, the girl said the ordeal had ‘ruined her life’ and that she still has nightmares about it.
“It took away my childhood,” she said. “After what happened, I went off the rails.
"It affected everything."
She told the court she did not think she would ever be able to forgive Muhammad.
On another occasion, in August 2017, the girl and a friend - aged 14 - were in Openshaw Park with Muhammad, Hashim and another man when Muhammad approached the friend and put his hand down her leggings.
The court heard he then 'yanked up her underwear' and grabbed her bottom with such force it caused pain and left 'a number of fingernail shaped impressions'.
When interviewed by police, Muhammad admitted having sex with the first victim, but claimed it had been 'consensual'.
He denied using his phone to record the girl and her friend performing oral sex on him, or sexually assaulting the girl in Openshaw Park.
Hashim's phone was seized by police after he was arrested in relation to driving offences in October 2017.
Detectives found a video showing 'a young, intoxicated female' being sexually contacted by a man, while he was cheered on by others people in a park.
The court heard a girl could be heard on the footage asking whether she was being recorded but was told “it's just a torch”.
Hashim told officers he could not remember recording the video.
Another video showed a young female holding onto a kitchen counter with both hands while an older male had sex with her from behind.
A number of other males can be seen gathered around them, the court heard.
Hashim was identified as the cameraman due to a 'distinctive watch' he was wearing which was caught in the footage.
He was arrested at Manchester Airport in July 2019 after getting off a flight from Pakistan and replied 'no comment' to all questions asked by police.
Following a trial, Muhammad, of South Cross Street, Bury, was found guilty of two counts of rape, as well as one count of taking an indecent image and another count of sexual assault.
Nicholas Clarke, defending for Muhammad, told the court that his client was 'naive and inexperienced' at the time of the offences.
He said he had since married and had a son and was working as a financial advisor at a call centre until recently.
Hashim, also of South Cross Street, Bury, was also convicted of two counts of taking an indecent image of a child, and two counts of possessing an indecent image of a child, after the four-week trial.
Hunter Gray, defending, said the harm caused by Hashim's offending had been 'negligible or none'.
"Those girls came to no harm," he added. "This is not the recording of a criminal activity."
He likened the footage to pornography, describing it as 'grotesque but lawful'.
Sentencing Muhammad, Recorder Jeremy Lasker said he had taken advantage of the ‘extremely vulnerable’ victim and given ‘no indication of regret of remorse’.
He added: “What started as consensual sexual activity between the two of you became something very different.
“She may have initially consented to penetration but when she asked you to stop because it was hurting her, you simply ignored her and carried on regardless.
“It was a clear example of you putting your own sexual gratification before giving and real or genuine consideration to the feelings of others.”
Jailing Hashim, the judge said: “I have to the firm conclusion that although these girls may well have been consenting to what was happening, they were the victim of older men, whether they were aware of it at the time of not.
“You were playing your part in this abuse by filming.”
Following the hearing, Detective Inspector Ian Partington, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "This has been an immensely thorough investigation in order to bring Muhammad and Hashim Hussain to account for their despicable and sickening crimes, and it is a great relief that they are now to spend time behind bars.
"Our investigation team have worked tirelessly to secure today's outcomes, but this would not have been possible had it not been for the courage and resilience of the victims to speak to police and pursue with the trial and to relive that abuse. Everyone in the team pays tribute to their unwavering bravery.
"I know that they believe the journey of the last three years in getting this case successfully through the courts has been worth it, and I join them in hoping that anyone else out there who's a victim of abuse - whether it's in Bury, Greater Manchester, or elsewhere in the country - to come forward and speak to police knowing that information will be treat with the strictest confidence.
"If there are other victims out there who now feel the time is right to come forward, then we are ready and determined to get justice for you, too.
"I would like to thank the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Bury council for their support in being able to secure these convictions and help rid our town of two remorseless sex offenders and put them where they belong."
Jo Lazzari from the CPS added: “Muhammad and Hashim Hussain treated these young girls as objects for their own sexual gratification. They exploited their vulnerability without any thought to the devastating impact of the abuse on the girls’ lives.
"I would like to thank these very brave young women for supporting the prosecutions and trusting us with their experiences. They described feeling ashamed, but it is the defendants who should now feel the shame of being convicted and jailed as predatory sex offenders.
“I would say to anyone abused in this way please come forward and tell us what happened to you. We will listen and take your allegations seriously.
"Victims should not feel they are at fault when they are preyed on by offenders. Everyone has a right to expect respect for their body and not be subjected to unwanted and harmful sexual exploitation.
"We will continue to work with Greater Manchester Police and other local partners to make sure these cases are brought to justice and I sincerely hope the convictions of their abusers will go some way to helping these young women to rebuild their lives.”
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/remorseless-brothers-who-targeted-vulnerable-20597379
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