February 2014

Jail terms for child sex abusers

Zdeno Mirga, 18, (left), and Hassan Abdulla, 33, (right)

The men and youths, of Czech and Slovak Roma, and Kurdish backgrounds, preyed on a total of five girls, including one with severe learning difficulties, in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire last year.

The girls were also forced to have sex with men for money, which was used to buy drugs and alcohol.

They were jailed at the Old Bailey today, with Judge John Bevan QC also criticising the immigrants for failing to learn English despite having lived in the United Kingdom for up to a decade.

He said it had resulted in a cost to the court of up to £40,000 for interpreters at their trial.

The gang’s Roma ringleader, Zdeno Mirga, 18, was sentenced to 16-and-a half years in a young offender institution (YOI) for eight counts of rape and one count of inciting child prostitution. He made one of his victims pregnant.

Iraqi Kurd drug dealer Hassan Abdulla, 33, was jailed for 20 years after being convicted of four rapes and three counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Jan Kandrac, 17, and Renato Balog, 18

Renato Balog, 18, a Roma who helped Abdulla sell drugs, will serve 12 years in a YOI for five rapes and three sexual assaults.

Jan Kandrac, 17, also from a Roma community, will serve five-and-half years in a YOI for one count of rape and two of indecent assault on a child.

The youngest member of the gang, a 14-year-old Roma who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was given a non-custodial six-month youth rehabilitation order after being convicted of sexual activity with a child.

Two of the group’s victims are of Czech/Slovak origin while the other three are English.

The case came to light when a Czech/Slovak girl, known as victim A, then aged 12-13, was taken into care and began to tell her social worker what had been happening to her.

Judge Bevan singled out the gang’s treatment of one victim, who had an IQ of just 54.

She was repeatedly raped, with men and boys sometimes lining up to abuse her as a “sexual commodity”, he said, adding: “To you she was easy meat, a sexual plaything who no one cared about, no one cared for and who nobody would believe.

“Unfortunately for you, the jury did.”

Another victim became pregnant and a third self-harmed.

The judge also attacked the failure by the gang to learn enough English to follow the trial or sentencing.

Several family members also listened to today’s proceedings in court via the interpreters through headphones.

“The fact is that the defendants all came to this country with their families between five and 10 years ago and the majority are still teenagers,” Judge Bevan said.

“The acquisition of a new language is not difficult if you put your mind to it.

“They have not attempted to learn the language of the country of their choice.”

He added: “The combination of the crimes you have committed and your attitude to these crimes both in this country and this court bring discredit on all of you in the dock and does a disservice to your fellow Roma who want to work hard in this country, improve themselves and make a positive contribution.”

Abdulla, branded a “dangerous predatory paedophile” by the judge, came to this country from Iraq in 2002 fleeing persecution but has since been convicted of offences including drug possession, the court heard.

His barrister James Buchanan said Abdulla still denied his guilt over these charges.

He is likely to be deported once he has served his sentence, along with Balog and Kandrac.

The 14-year-old defendant was allowed to walk free from court after the judge was told he had already spent seven-and-a-half months on remand after being charged with raping a girl. He was acquitted of that charge at the gang’s three-month trial.

Speaking outside court, Detective Superintendent Gary Ridgway praised the bravery of the victims in coming forward and then going though with the court case.

“Today gives those girls justice. Those who abused them are now behind bars,” he said.

“I’m pleased with today’s sentences as it shows how seriously we, and the courts, take this kind of offending. It sends a clear message that we will not tolerate those who seek to exploit vulnerable young people.

“We will do everything in our power to put them before the courts.”

The investigation was the first trial under Operation Erle, a joint inquiry between Cambridgeshire Police and Peterborough City Council’s children’s services.

January 2014

Gang leader who sold young girls for sex faces life for ‘child abuse at its worst’

Zdeno Mirga and Hassan Abdulla, who were both convicted of rape 

An 18-year old is facing a possible term of life imprisonment after he was convicted of multiple rape and child prostitution offences against girls aged 12 and 13 in a case prosecutors said was one of one of the worst examples of child sexual abuse they have seen.

Zdeno Mirga, known as “Skinny”, was the boss of a Peterborough gang accused of crimes against five girls, one of whom told how she was sexually abused by boys at parties and raped in the children’s play area at the Central Park in the city.

A 13-year-old victim was forced to perform sex acts on up to 10 attackers in the park, as one of them urged: “Rape her,” the jury at the Old Bailey heard. She was sold for £20 a time by Mirga so he could spend the money on “weed and vodka”.

The girl who blew the whistle on the abuse when she was taken into care suffered from learning difficulties. She was forced to perform sex with strangers, including oral sex on a 50-year-old man, the court heard.

She told how Mirga took her to a party and gave her vodka and cannabis before taking her to a bedroom. “I was shocked. There was 10 guys, no girls,” she said and described lying on the bed “like dead” while being touched by Mirga and his friend before performing oral sex.

Two teenage members of the gang, who cannot be named, were also convicted of rape, child sex and sexual assault charges, another was found guilty of sexual activity with a child, but cleared of rape.

A 33-year old man, Hassan Abdulla, was convicted on four charges of rape and three of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Members of the gang laughed and wept in the dock as the jury announced its decisions. One shouted: “Am I guilty or what? I didn’t rape them.”

Thanking the jury for their diligence after almost 34 hours of deliberation, Judge John Bevan QC said the case was “high up the scale of depravity”.

Two of the victims of the abuse, which took place between April and December 2012, were sisters of Slovakian origin and the other three were English. The gang were of Czech, Slovak and Kurdish background.

Prosecutor Angela Rafferty said the “charismatic and controlling” Mirga encouraged his victim with learning difficulties “often very forcefully indeed, to give other boys and men oral and vaginal sex. He did this using the power he had over her at the time, or threatened her and sometimes he used violence against her.”

She went on: “Skinny took her to parties where she was shared around sexually” and said he had “forceful vaginal sex” with her in the toilets in a park.

Another girl was sexually assaulted in her garden by a teenage boy while her parents were inside watching TV. The 13-year-old victim said her attacker forced her to give him oral sex three or four times a week.

One victim described being pinned down and raped by a 14-year-old gang member at a party as she tried to sleep. She said they had threatened to kill her and she was too scared to go to the police.

The oldest member of the gang, Abdulla, allegedly had a fetish for “gypsy” girls and was accused of raping a schoolgirl in his Peterborough home.

Two other men and a teenage boy, were found not guilty of charges against them.

Speaking afterwards Grace Ononiwu, chief crown prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service in the east of England, said: “The fact that eight individuals faced a total of 46 charges of sexual abuse, including some which carry maximum penalties of life imprisonment, demonstrates the extent and seriousness of the offending which was alleged against them. This case is one of the worst cases of child sexual abuse we have seen. This is child sexual abuse at its worst, preying on the vulnerable for sexual gratification.”

 

Detective superintendent Gary Ridgway of Cambridgeshire Police said the convictions were part of an ongoing joint inquiry by Cambridgeshire Constabulary and Peterborough City Council’s Children’s social care department to safeguard young people.

“These girls were targeted simply because they were vulnerable,” he said. ” They were seen as easy targets and exploited by this group of teenage boys and young men who abused them for their own sexual gratification.

“The victims, who were as young as 12 years old, were subjected to horrific ordeals. But they have shown incredible strength throughout this process: in particular by giving evidence at court in order to bring these people to justice. We are committed to helping those girls pick up the pieces and move on with their lives.”

The judge adjourned sentencing until 20 February.