Sri Lanka- Former peer Nazir Ahmed denies child sex abuse charges


(MENAFN- Colombo Gazette) former Labour peer repeatedly sexually abused two younger children when he was a teenager, a court has heard.

Nazir Ahmed, 63, is on trial at Sheffield Crown Court charged with a number of sexual offences dating back to the 1970s.

The court was told the allegations came to light in 2016 when a man and a woman contacted the police.

Mr Ahmed, formerly known as Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, denies the charges.

He is accused of two counts of attempting to rape a girl under 16, indecent assault of a boy under 14 and raping a boy under 16, all said to have occurred in the early 1970s.

His brothers Mohammed Farouq, 70, and Mohammed Tariq, 65, also from Rotherham, are accused of the indecent assault of a boy under 14, but are not fit to plead and face a trial of the facts.

Tom Little QC, prosecuting, said the alleged victims "did not complain at the time".

"Those who were abused were too young to stop it and too young to do anything about it," said Mr Little.

"Those that it happened to kept it buried away for many years - as is so often the case."

Jurors were played a recording of a tearful phone call between the two complainants in 2016, after the man used the internet to track down the woman, who had already contacted the police with her allegations.

‘Malicious fiction'

The male complainant told the woman: "He did the same thing I suspected to you…And it were all three of them."

When Mr Ahmed was arrested and first questioned about the woman's allegations he "said absolutely nothing", the court heard.

Mr Little also claimed that there was evidence of allegations of acts Mr Ahmed committed before he turned 14, and although they were not reflected in the charges, "we say it did happen".

The prosecutor explained that the law at the time presumed children under 14 were incapable of sexual intercourse, so Ahmed is not charged with any offences before that birthday.

Mr Little said Mr Ahmed's case was that the allegations were a "malicious fiction".

The trial continues. (BBC)

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Colombo Gazette

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