Two men of African origin have been jailed for abducting an 11-year-old girl in Birmingham.
One of them has also been convicted of sexually assaulting her.
Sadak Ali (28) was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for abduction and sexual assault of a child. Hamza Sharif (36) was sentenced to five years for the abduction of a child.
The verdict was handed down on Thursday at Birmingham Crown Court, according to the BBC.
Both were found guilty following a trial that lasted ten days. A third man in the same case was acquitted.
The girl had run away from home without telling anyone. Sharif met her in Birmingham at night, prosecutor Usha Shergill told the court. He did not know her beforehand. He asked her to come home with him, and she agreed because she thought he would help her.
Ali was at Sharif’s home. The men offered her drugs, and she refused. Ali asked her intrusive sexual questions before sexually assaulting her.
Hamza Sharif (36) and Sadak Ali (28). Photo: West Midlands Police
The following day, the men told her she would be taken to a woman who could help her. She was given an old hooded top to wear. A member of the public then intervened and got her away from them, according to the prosecutor.
Ali’s defence lawyer, Simon Williams, said that Ali had experienced trauma in Somalia. He had turned to alcohol and drugs to cope with it, said Williams.
Judge Roderick Henderson described the offence as extremely serious. He said the men had taken advantage of a situation and kept a vulnerable child isolated for a long time. Neither of them had attempted to contact the police or other authorities. Sharif was the driving force behind the abduction, the judge said.
Ali must now remain on the sex offenders’ register for the rest of his life. Both have been issued with a restraining order.
The girl still suffers from nightmares and relives what happened. In a statement to the court, she wrote:
“I’m afraid they’ll find me, even though they’re in prison.”
