Five men who sexually abused two girls in Rochdale nearly 20 years ago were jailed yesterday for a total of more than 70 years.
Gang members plied the teens with alcohol and drugs before treating them like “pieces of meat”.
The victims, known as Girls A and B, were aged 13 and 14 at the time and said to be “ripe for exploitation”.
It was only in 2015 that the crimes came to light after one girl, now 33, took a parenting course and revealed that she had been “abused daily”.
Brothers Mohammed Ghani and Jahn Shahid Ghani, Insar Hussain and Ali Razza Hussain Kasmi were convicted of a series of child sex offences after a trial in Manchester in summer.
A fifth man, Martin Rhodes, 39, admitted four child sex offences.
The jury at Minshull Street Crown Court was told the girls were “mere objects for the defendants to use, abuse, humiliate then discard”.
Yesterday Jahn Ghani, 50, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for six counts of sexual assault and one of causing a child to engage in sexual activity. Hussain, 38, was jailed for 17 years for rape and two counts of sexual assault.
Mohammed Ghani, 39, was sentenced to 14 years for five counts of sexual assault. Kasmi, 36, was given eight years for one count of rape and two of sexual intercourse with a child.
Rhodes, 39, was sentenced to 12 years and six months for four counts of sexual assault.
The gang was said to be centred around Mohammed Ghani, known as Gunny. Judge Tina Landale told him in sentencing that he had treated Girl A “as a piece of meat”, passing her around his friends for sex.
It was the biggest child sexual exploitation crown court case involving men from Rochdale since 2012, when nine were convicted of grooming and abusing girls as young as 13.
After the hearing, senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Guy Laycock thanked the survivors.
He said: “They have put their trust in my team and demonstrated extraordinary resilience in the face of their traumatic experiences at the hands of these abhorrent offenders.”
Sharon Hubber, of Rochdale Children’s Services, said no sentence “can replace the years these abusers have stolen from their victims”.
