Rotherham sex abuse victim, 13, had gun pointed at head, court hears

The trial is being held at Sheffield Crown Court

A gun was held to the head of a 13-year-old sexual abuse victim as a "warning" against speaking out, a court has heard.

Eight men are on trial charged in connection with the sexual abuse of three girls between 1999 and 2003.

The men, who are accused of rape, indecent assault and other offences, deny the charges.

Jurors at Sheffield Crown Court has been hearing police interviews with the woman who is now in her twenties.

One woman, who said she was sexually assaulted as a 13-year-old in 2003 by a group of Asian men, described being plied with alcohol and drugs and passed around for sex.

'Sort of warning'

On one occasion, she said, a gun was held to her head by an unnamed man in a car.

He said he was going to shoot her, counted down from three and pulled the trigger but the gun was empty, she told police.

Asked by officers what she thought of the incident, the woman said: "I took it as a sort of warning, like I shouldn't say anything."

During police interviews she told how she was forced to have sex with men in Clifton Park and in an alleyway in Rotherham town centre.

"They'd start off nice and get more aggressive when I said no. No was just not an option", the woman told police.

She said the men told her she owed them money for the alcohol and drugs they'd given her and said she had to pay it back by going with them for sex.

The trial continues.

Eight on trial

• Sageer Hussain, 30, of Clough Road, Rotherham, denies four rapes and one indecent assault

• Mohammed Whied, 32, of Psalters Lane, Rotherham, denies one count of aiding and abetting rape

• Ishtiaq Khaliq, 33, of Cherry Brook, Rotherham, denies one rape and three indecent assaults

• Waleed Ali, 34, of Canklow Road, Rotherham, denies one rape and one indecent assault

• Asif Ali, 30, of Clough Road, Rotherham, denies one rape

• Masoued Malik, 32, of Bridgewater Way, Rotherham, denies one rape, one count of conspiracy to commit indecent assault and one of false imprisonment

• Basharat Hussain, 40, from Goole, denies one indecent assault

• Naeem Rafiq, 33, of Clarendon Road, Rotherham, denies one count of conspiracy to commit indecent assault and one of false imprisonment.