A man accused of sexually abusing two girls has told a jury that the sexual contact he had with one of the alleged victims was ‘consensual’. Jahn Shahid Ghani, 50, is charged with eight counts of rape, eight counts of sexual activity with a child and one count of causing a child to engage in sexual activity.
Mr Shahid Ghani, of Whitworth Road, Rochdale, denies the offences and is on trial at Minshull Street Crown Court, along with seven other men, who are accused of abusing two girls between 2002 and 2006. Neither women, as complainants of sexual offences, can be publicly identified.
Giving evidence, Mr Shahid Ghani said he did have sex with the first complainant (Girl A), adding that he believed she was 18 at the time. He denied having sex with either of the girls in a group, or at the same time.
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He also said he thought the second complainant (Girl B) was 19 when they had sex.
Mr Shahid Ghani told the jury that he was ‘good friends’ with Girl A, and that they messaged on Facebook, texted each other and called each other.
He denied being dependent on drugs, and said he would use them if relaxing with friends or listening to music.
The court heard he spoke to people on various adult chat sites including Badoo and fabswingers.com. In various messages read to the court, he spoke with women who asked him to bring drugs to meet them. He described the messages as ‘friendly banter’.
Of Girl B, he said they were friends on Facebook and that she was also a ‘good friend’ who used to live locally.
Mr Shahid Ghani said he didn’t have any contact with his younger brother, Mohammed Ghani, before August 2006 when he was reunited with his mum. Of the other defendants involved in the case, he said he didn’t know them or have much contact with them.
He said he was dating a woman from 1999 to 2004, and when that ended he was ‘heartbroken’, and didn’t want to be in a relationship.
In 2005, he said he met Girl A on the Strand, in Rochdale. “I saw her, we started chatting and hit it off. I had no idea who she was. I had a bag full of Red Bull cans and she was smoking a joint and said ‘where’s the party’,” and we had a laugh,” Mr Shahid Ghani said.
“That was the first time I spoke to her, it was for about 20 minutes. She was smoking a joint, she had make-up on, I didn’t think she was under 16, I thought she was 18.”
He said they exchanged numbers and continued speaking most days. Four weeks later they agreed to meet up again on the Strand. “We had a good laugh,” he said.
“We were just meeting up to chat and see if she wanted to come for a party.”
The prosecution allege that he showed Girl A a video in which she was sexually assaulted with a bottle. He was asked by his barrister Helen Chapman if Girl A spoke to him about the incident. “No, she did not,” Mr Shahid Ghani said.
The court heard that Mr Shahid Ghani was in a ‘friends-with-benefits relationship’ with a woman at the time when they spoke about experimenting sexually. He said they had been sleeping together for around two to three months and she was ‘quite open’ about having a threesome.
Mr Shahid Ghani said around four to five months later he was at the woman’s house when he received a message from Girl A asking: “What you up to?”
“I told her [the woman] who was messaging me and she was alright with it, so I picked Girl A up from the Strand and brought her back to the house,” he said.
He said they had a ‘mini party’ in which drugs and alcohol were taken. Mr Shahid Ghani then said things got ‘intimate’ between the two females before he ‘got involved’. He said they got on like ‘best friends’.
“How do drugs affect you when having sex?” his barrister asked him.
“If we were feeling the music, we would be happy. It heightens the pleasure,” he replied.
He said neither of the females seemed ‘uncomfortable’, instead saying they were ‘fantastic’. The whole act lasted between two to three hours, he told the court.
Afterwards, he left the house to go and have a shower at his flat, also known as the ‘Butcher’s flat’, in Rochdale, and when he left, both females were ‘giggly and happy’.
“There was no discussion about getting Girl A to school. She said she went to college and had a job at a chippy,” he added.
“Was there any conversation about her age?” Ms Chapman asked him.
“No, none at all,” Mr Shahid Ghani said.
He added that he had two more threesomes which were ‘all consensual’.
Mr Shahid Ghani denied ever picking Girl A up from school, he denied seeing her in a school uniform and denied having sex with her in his car.
Asked about the contact between them, he said it was ‘mutual’, adding: “the sex was good. It was never uncomfortable”.
The other seven defendants are accused of offences against two girls between 2002-06. All defendants have pleaded not guilty and deny all the charges.
The defendants are Mohammed Ghani, 37, of Bamford Way, Rochdale, accused of 10 counts of rape, five counts of penetrative sexual activity with a child, two counts of sexual activity with a child, two counts of indecency with a child and two counts of buggery.
Insar Hussain, 36, of Bishop Street, Rochdale is accused of seven counts of rape, two counts of sexual intercourse with a child, three counts of indecency with a child, four counts of penetrative sexual activity with a child and trafficking a person for sexual exploitation.
Ikhlaq Yousef, 37, of Stanley Street, Rochdale is accused of two rapes, two counts of gross indecency with a child, two counts of penetrative sexual activity with a child and one count of causing a child to engage in sexual activity.
Martin Rhodes, 36, of Dinmore Avenue, Blackpool is accused of two rapes and two counts of penetrative sexual activity with a child.
Ali Razza Hussain Kasmi, 34, of Brotherod Hall Road, Rochdale is accused of two counts of rape, two of indecency with a child and two of penetrative sexual activity with a child.
Aftar Khan, 33, of Sparth Bottoms Road, Rochdale is accused of three rapes, three counts of indecency with a child and two counts of penetrative sexual activity with a child.
Mohammed Iqbal, 66, of Gainsborough Drive, Rochdale, charged with two counts of paying for sexual services of a girl under the age of 18.
Proceeding.
