November 2014
Bristol Somali sex abuse gang: The full horrific story
A gang of 14 Somali men have been convicted of running an inner city sex ring involving the abuse, rape and prostitution of teenage British girls from ‘normal homes’.
Victims as young as 13 were preyed upon, sexually abused and passed around the men’s friends for money in Bristol.
Several of the girls were groomed to the extent they believed abuse was part of loving relationships they were having with the defendants, and that having sex with their ‘boyfriend’s’ friends was part of their ‘culture and tradition’.
The conviction of the men can be reported for the first time after the conclusion of a trial at Bristol Crown Court.
The girls, aged between just 13 and 17 and from ‘normal’ homes, fell into the evil clutches of the paedophiles who used the fear of rape to control them.
Abdulahi Aden, pictured lying with a huge pile of £20 notes
One was only 13-years-old when she was taken to a hotel room to be raped by a series of men.
Another was forced on to other men in return for money.
Of the four girls, three were white and one mixed race, with a fifth girl witnessing many of the sickening assaults.
Some were persuaded to have sex with their ‘boyfriend’s’ friends as it was Somali ‘culture and tradition’ and ‘men always have sex with each other’s girlfriends’.
The victims, described as ‘vulnerable’ due to their age and circumstances, were paid as little as £30 or given drugs, alcohol and gifts to perform sex acts on older men.
Mustapha Farah
In one dreadful night, one 13-year-old girl was raped four times by three different men, having been trafficked across the city to a Premier Inn by one of her abusers.
The Bristol case comes after allegations, convictions and resignations over organised child abuse and exploitation across English towns and cities including Rotherham, Rochdale, Oxford and Telford.
Serious case reviews are now underway to try to understand how the girls became victims.
Avon and Somerset Police uncovered a two-year catalogue of abuse against 10 girls during their investigation into the Somali men, codenamed Operation Brooke.
A total of 14 were convicted of charges including rape, sexual activity with a child, facilitating child prostitution, trafficking, paying for the sexual services of a child and drug offences.
Defendants were tried in two separate trials at Bristol Crown Court this year, with eight jailed for between 18 months and 13 years following the first one this summer.
The remaining seven men, were convicted by a jury yesterday following 32 hours and 17 minutes of deliberations, and will be sentenced at the court tomorrow.
Liban Abdi
The first trial centred on a group of Somali drug dealers based in the Stapleton Road area of Easton in Bristol and their exploitation of primarily one teenage girl.
She had been moved into a flat on her own in Bristol and left almost unsupervised by social workers from outside the city.
Liban Abdi, 21, Mustapha Farah, 21, Arafat Osman, 20, Idleh Osman, 22, Abdulahi Aden, 20, Said Zakaria, 22, Mustafa Deria, 22, and Deria’s cousin Mohamed Jama, 20, were all jailed for between 18 months and 13 years for either child sexual exploitation or drugs offences.
The second trial focused on another group of young Somali men – but included Zakaria, whose nickname was ‘Target’ – and their grooming and subsequent sexual abuse of young girls in Bristol.
Mohamed Jumale, 24, Mohamed Dahir, 22, Zakaria, Jusuf Abdizirak, 20, Omar Jumale, 20, Abdirashid Abdulahi, 21 and Sakariah Sheik, 21, were all convicted of child sexual exploitation offences.
Arafat Ahmed Osman
During this second trial, the court heard that Mohamed Jumale, known as Deeq, convinced girls it was ‘his tradition’ for the girl to have sex with his friends.
He was convicted of one count of rape, seven of sexual activity with a child and one of aiding or abetting another into the same offences.
Four of the counts were against victim A.
Anna Vigars, prosecuting at Bristol Crown Court, said: ‘He wanted her to have sex with his friends, that that was his tradition, his culture and that that was what always happened.
‘Men always have sex with each other’s girlfriends. She didn’t believe him but that is the line he was feeding her.
‘She was saying no to him, telling him she wasn’t interested, but he made her have sex with all of the men.’
The court heard how the Somalis had ‘a good knack’ of preying on vulnerabilities and groomed their naive victims into thinking the men loved them and were their ‘boyfriends’.
Sakariah Sheikh
The children began to believe the abuse they were subjected to was ‘normal’ and ‘expected of them’.
The court heard the despicable web began to unravel after a number of the men booked a hotel room so they could take turns raping girl A in December 2012.
Zakaria and Jusuf Abdirizak, 20, aka Starns, booked a room in the Premier Inn in Bristol.
Zakaria persuaded victim A and a friend to go there and he picked them up but took them first to a flat in Barton Hill, Bristol.
There A was raped by an unknown man before being driven to the hotel where she was taken to a room and told to strip so Zakaria could have sex with her.
Mohamed Dahir
She was pinned to a bed and lay with her eyes closed as he raped her once and then a second time, over the sink in the bathroom.
The girl went back into the bedroom where Abdirizak raped her.
A few months later Jumale then forced her to have sex with his brother Omar, telling her he was worried he wanted to ‘turn gay’.
Three other girls were also sexually assaulted by the defendants.
Zakaria was found guilty of two counts of rape, two of sexual activity with a child and one of trafficking, all related to A.
Abdirizak was also found guilty of raping A while in the hotel room.
Mohammed Dahir, 22, known as Kamal, was convicted of causing or inciting A into child prostitution.
Abdirashid Abdulahi
Sakariya Sheik, 21, or Zac, was found guilty of one charge of rape, relating to victim D, and another of sexual activity with A.
Abdirashid Abdulahi, Abs, was also convicted of rape in relation to victim C.
Finally, Omar Jumble was found guilty of sexual activity with A.
Ms Vigars added: ‘At its heart this case is about the sexual use made by these defendants of lots of young girls.
‘What the girls have in common is that they were used by these men for sex.
Mohamed Jumale
‘It is about the defendants simply using the girls to satisfy them whenever they felt like it, doing it so often that, no doubt, it began to feel normal so far as these girls were concerned.
‘Much of it is sordid, none of it is romantic.’
Judge Julian Lambert will sentence the seven defendants for the 20 charges they were convicted of, relating to four victims, tomorrow.
Two defendants, Jibril Mohamed, 21, and Dauud Osman, 19, were acquitted of the charges they faced.
The shocking case can only be reported for the first time today because restrictions placed upon the media were lifted at the conclusion of the second trial.
Omar Jumale
