Telford girl was ‘abused in hotel rooms’
A teenager from Telford told a jury she was taken to hotels for sex five times by one of her alleged abusers.
Ghamer Sulayman, 23, Ayad Hizam, 21, and Saleh Qasem, 20, are facing a combined 20 counts relating to a series of incidents where the victim was taken to locations in Telford and Birmingham in 2016 to meet numerous men.
Police launched an investigation into child sex exploitation relating to the victim, then aged 15, after she went missing.
Giving evidence at Shrewsbury Crown Court yesterday she told jurors that she met Hizam on social media network Snapchat.
She said after a couple of weeks they agreed to meet up.
She said Hizam, who told her his name was “Nathan” took her to stay overnight at hotels in Telford on four occasions and once in Birmingham city centre and she told the jury that she was willing to meet up with him because she liked him.
The witness, now aged 18, said they stayed at a number of hotels in the town.
She told the jury that after a few weeks she was contacted by Qasem and Sulayman by phone and social media.
'Shocked'
She said Sulayman offered to collect her for a shopping trip to Birmingham, but when he arrived two other men were in the car.
Prosecuting barrister Mr Mark Heywood QC asked the teenager how she felt when Sulayman arrived in a group.
She replied: “I was shocked.” Mr Heywood asked: “Did he tell you who these people were?”
She replied: “One was Ghamer and one of them was someone I used to talk to called Saleh.”
She said she had spoken to Saleh a couple of times on the phone and she knew it was him because she had seen a picture of him.
She told the court she had no idea of how he got hold of her Snapchat details or her phone number.
She said she was driven to a house in Birmingham, belonging to a friend of Sulayman, where she was given alcohol and told to have sexual activity with three other men in a bedroom.
Mr Heywood asked her if Sulayman came into the room. She replied: “Yes. Some other people came in as well. They came in just after me and Ghamer.
Then he went downstairs leaving me with them.”
Sulayman, of Mercia Drive, Kings Heath, Birmingham, faces seven counts of rape and three of trafficking.
Qasem, 20, of Runcorn Road, Balsall Heath, faces one count of sexual assault and one of trafficking. Hizam, of Bridgecroft, Balsall Heath, also Birmingham faces four counts of abduction and four counts of sexual activity with a child.
All three deny the offences which allegedly happened between March and July 2016.
The trial continues.
