Verdicts in Grooming Trial
December 19, 2018
The trial of Mohammed Karrar, Bassam Karrar and Anjum Dogar concluded yesterday with all three defendants being convicted on all counts. Oliver Saxby QC was prosecuting, leading Alan Gardner of 23 Essex Street. They were instructed by Clare Tucker of Thames Chiltern CCU. The trial had lasted 3 weeks.
The Crown alleged that each of the defendants had been involved in the grooming and sexual exploitation of a young girl aged 14 or 15 at the time. The offences dated back to 2003-2005 and included allegations of multiple rape and conspiracy to rape. In respect of one such occasion, the complainant woke up in the morning to find she had been the victim of a sexual attack which she later realised had resulted in her becoming pregnant.
The case was a complex one involving extensive Bad Character evidence – albeit the Crown’s case revolved around the evidence of the complainant, now aged 30. She had declined to give a video recorded interview, instead preferring to give the police her detailed and extensive account via a series of statements. It was therefore necessary to call her ‘live’, which the Crown achieved with the assistance of a comprehensive evidence-in-chief plan.
Two of the three defendants gave evidence. Lengthy legal directions – focussing, for instance, on the issues of consent (and in particular freedom of choice/lack thereof) and ‘knowledge/belief’ – were prepared for the jury’s assistance. The case was legally complex in that the period concerned spanned the implementation of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
Sentence was adjourned to a date in the New Year.
News coverage of the case can be found using the links below:-
BBC News Report
Further BBC News Report
Further BBC News Report
