Sex gang jailed in scandal of abuse of poor white girls in Rochdale

FIVE African and Asian men who groomed and sexually exploited a vulnerable white girl were jailed yesterday.

Kendakumana was first arrested in 2008 Kendakumana was first arrested in 2008 [PA]

Congolese refugees Freddie Kendakumana, 27, and Chola Chansa, 33; Kurdish refugee Mohammed Rafiq Abubaker, 25; and Abdul Huk, 37, and Roheez Khan, 27 – of Pakistani origin – were jailed for sexual activity with a child.

The victim, then 15, was plied with vodka and cannabis then raped or sexually abused in 2008 and 2009 in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

She had been put in care after a chaotic upbringing by her drug-addict parents and told a number of ­people, including social workers at Rochdale Council, about her sexual activity with older men.

Kendakumana was first arrested by Greater Manchester Police in December 2008 after the girl said he had raped her. But he was not charged until October last year. In those four years several men abused her.

Her case came to light during investigations into an Asian sex gang in Rochdale, which saw nine other men jailed last year for grooming and abusing white girls aged between 13 and 15.

Yesterday a report by Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Children Board into that gang’s activities found 17 agencies had failed the victims. Social workers wrote off under-age white girls deemed to be “making their own choices” by engaging in consensual sex with Asian men.

Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk blasted agencies for ignoring the abuse for years as they were “blinded” by the victims’ backgrounds.

Mr Danczuk said: “Greater Manchester Police were discriminating against poor, white, working-class girls – actively ignoring abuse going on.”

However, Greater Manchester Chief Constable Sir Peter Fahy refuses to accept that the grooming cases – all involving Asian or African men and white girl victims – were race related.

rochdale, abuse, child, children, girls, girl, abused, rape, groomed, grooming, exploitation, exploited, sentenced, jailed, jail, prison, Chola Chansa was sentenced to five years after admitting sexual activity with a child [PA]

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He said: “I think there is a real danger that if we try to see this as a racial issue – which we don’t believe it was – it then means society is not confronting some of these really difficult issues.”

In the latest case, Judge Jonathan Foster QC told Manchester Crown Court it was “regrettable” that the girl’s original allegations were not fully pursued. He added: “Vulnerable girls were susceptible to sexual activity in return for affection, alcohol and drugs.”

The girl, now 20, is on medication for anxiety and depression and found the court case “the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through”.

Kendakumana was jailed for eight-and-a-half years after he was convicted of rape and sexual activity with a child.

Chansa was handed a five-year sentence after admitting sexual activity with a child.

Taxi driver Huk, and Abubaker were convicted of sexual activity with a child and jailed for four years and two-and-a-half years respectively.

Khan, a takeaway worker, was jailed for six-and-a-half years for sexual activity with a child and witness intimidation.

Judge Foster told them: “I hope you learn to respect the dignity of all human beings, particularly the young and vulnerable.”

Anne Longfield, of the 4Children charity, said of yesterday’s “shocking” report: “It highlights just how badly these young, vulnerable girls were let down by a system that failed to protect and look after them.”

rochdale, abuse, child, children, girls, girl, abused, rape, groomed, grooming, exploitation, exploited, sentenced, jailed, jail, prison, Mohammed Rafiq Abubaker was jailed for two-and-a-half years [PA]

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