Man denies shop cellar rape, grooming trial told

A man has denied ever going down to the cellar of his shop, where it is alleged he repeatedly raped a teenage girl.

Prosecutors said the teenager and another vulnerable girl were, from the age of 13, treated as "sex slaves" and plied with drugs, alcohol and cigarettes by a group of men in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

Seven defendants are on trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court accused of sexual exploitation between 2001 and 2006.

Two of them - 67-year-old Mushtaq Ahmed and 64-year-old Mohammed Zahid - are alleged to have raped one of the girls several times on an unwashed mattress in the "grim, cold, dark" basement of Mr Ahmed's former clothing store in Rochdale town centre.

Mr Ahmed said he never used the basement because it was full of rubbish dumped by the shop's previous owner.

He said: "When I opened the door, because of the presence of so much rubbish and the smell from the damp, I would quickly close the door again. It was extremely bad."

He also told the court he had never seen a mattress in the shop.

Mr Ahmed said one of the teenagers - known in court as Girl B - had previously visited his shop with Rochdale Market stallholders Mr Zahid and Kasir Bashir.

He said the 50-year-olds would mind his premises when he collected supplies.

Mr Ahmed told jurors Girl B came to his shop alone on one occasion and asked him for money.

He said: "She said that she needed £20. She said had problems with gas and electricity bills. I gave it to her."

The defendant said he did not give her any money when she returned two or three weeks later to say she was again short of cash.

He said: "When I refused she swore at me a lot. Too much. She said, 'You are a dog'.

"I pushed her out of the shop."

The prosecution allege Mr Ahmed, of Corona Avenue, Oldham, also raped Girl B at a house in Chadderton.

He denies rape and gross indecency.

The other defendants also deny various sexual offences.

They are Mohammed Zahid, of Station Road, Crumpsall; Kasir Bashir, of Napier Street East, Oldham; Naheem Akram, 48, of Manley, Road, Rochdale; Mohammed Shahzad, 44, of Beswicke Royds Street, Rochdale; Roheez Khan, 39, of Athole Street, Rochdale; and Nisar Hussain, 41, of Newfield Close, Rochdale.

Last month the prosecution offered no evidence against an eighth defendant, Arfan Khan, 41, of Grouse Street, Rochdale.

Mr Khan was cleared of rape, conspiracy to commit indecency with a child and conspiracy to cause a child to engage in penetrative sexual activity.

The trial will resume on Friday.

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