YOUNG women claiming to have been raped and sold for sex as children were “naughty girls”

regretting doing “grown up things”, the Old Bailey heard yesterday.

Six complainants have told the court they were given drink and drugs and abused between the ages of 11 and 15 from 2004 to January last year. Nine men deny all charges.

But in his closing speech, defence barrister Andrew Jefferies, representing Akhtar Dogar, said: “There is a world of difference between somebody being forced into something and regretting doing something.

“With these older, wiser, witnesses in their 20s, they are looking back with a degree of self-loathing, of regret, and shame about the way they were behaving as teenagers.”

He added: “Were these girls victims from the start or were they naughty girls doing grown up things they bitterly regret?”

Dogar, 32, denies raping the alleged victim known as Girl 1 when she was 13 to 15 and Girl 2 when she was 14. He also denies arranging for Girls 1 and 3 to have sex for money.

Mr Jefferies said Girl 1 and 2 had gone to Cowley Road to mix with “undesirables”, “drinkers” and “druggies”.

He said they would be out late at night, dressing to look older, and not behaving like children.

He said: “This is not some gang who are roaming the streets looking for young white girls. This is the Cowley Road, where things happen.”

Mr Jefferies said his client’s not guilty plea said it all, adding: “The reality is, is there a case he needs to answer?”

He said if Dogar had taken the witness stand it would have been like a “pantomime” with him responding ‘No I didn’t’ to every allegation.

The jury was also told dad-of-three Kamar Jamil was “on trial for his life” after accusations from girls whose lives were in “complete turmoil”.

The married 27-year-old denies charges including the rape and sex trafficking of Girl 1 and 2 between 2004 and 2007.

His barrister, Sally O’Neill, said he had never had sexual contact with the girls, but had been “lumped in” with the other defendants because he associated with them.

She said to the jury: “Suppose, just suppose, that for reasons that may be difficult to fathom but nevertheless are there, that they have just lumped Kamar Jamil in with a large number of men they were involved with six or seven years ago when their lives were in complete turmoil.”

She later said: “At least have in the back of your mind the very real possibility that Kamar Jamil is innocent.

“A false memory can become a firm memory. A firm memory can become a convincing memory.

“A convincing memory can become persuasive evidence, even when it is based on a false premise.”

The jury will today hear from the barrister representing Akhtar’s brother Anjum Dogar.

The trial continues.

The defendants

Kamar Jamil, 27, of Aldrich Road, Summertown, Oxford, denies five rapes, two charges of conspiracy to rape, one of arranging or facilitating child prostitution, and one of trafficking for sexual exploitation.
Akhtar Dogar, 32, of Tawney Street, East Oxford, denies five rapes, three charges of conspiracy to rape, two of arranging or facilitating child prostitution, and trafficking for sexual exploitation.
Anjum Dogar, 31, of Tawney Street, East Oxford, denies three rapes, three charges of conspiracy to rape, two of arranging or facilitating child prostitution, and trafficking for sexual exploitation.
Assad Hussain, 32, of Ashhurst Way, Rose Hill, Oxford, denies rape and two charges of sexual activity with a child.
Mohammed Karrar, 38, of Kames Close, Cowley, denies seven rapes, four charges of conspiracy to rape, two of trafficking for sexual exploitation, two of arranging or facilitating child prostitution, serious sexual assault, conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child, using an instrument to procure a miscarriage, and supplying a Class A drug to another.
Bassam Karrar, 33, of Hundred Acres Close, Cowley, denies three rapes, three charges of conspiracy to rape, two charges of arranging or facilitating child prostitution, and trafficking for sexual exploitation.
Mohammed Hussain, 24, of Horspath Road, Cowley, Oxford, denies three charges of sexual activity with a child.
Zeeshan Ahmed, 27, of Palmer Road, Wood Farm, Oxford, denies two charges of sexual activity with a child.
Bilal Ahmed, 26, of Suffolk Road, Maidenhead, denies sexual activity with a child.