Keighley rape trial: Bilal Hussain and Shazad Rehman in court

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-21159994

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Two men have gone on trial accused of raping three 14-year-old girls who had been plied with alcohol and cannabis.

Bilal Hussain and Shazad Rehman are accused of repeatedly raping one girl and raping two other girls they picked up in the Keighley area.

Mr Hussain, 23, of Leeds and 30-year-old Mr Rehman, of no fixed address, pursued teenage girls between 2010 and 2011, Bradford Crown Court heard.

They have pleaded not guilty to nine rape charges and supplying cannabis.

Mr Rehman has also denied two charges of sexual assault which relate to one of the rape complainants and a fourth young girl.

The pair also deny a charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

'Out of their depth'

Prosecutor Michelle Colborne QC told the court on Tuesday: ''They acted together travelling from their various home addresses in Leeds and Halifax to the Keighley town centre where they specifically targeted vulnerable girls, all underage."

She said some of the girls, none of whom can be identified, had difficult backgrounds or were emotionally fragile and may have been seeking attention.

''They were out of their depth,'' she told the jury.

''They were supplied with strong alcohol and cannabis, enticed to believe they would have fun, that they were special. In truth what was on offer was beyond their control.

''This behaviour... was designed to exploit their lack of maturity, their lack of life experience and to render them more compliant.''

It is alleged that drink and drugs were given to the girls to reduce their inhibitions, or in some cases to leave them incapable of resisting sexual advances or oblivious to them.

The jury heard how some of the alleged rapes took place at the Alder House Hotel, Batley, and the Campanile Hotel, Bradford, after the complainants had been picked up by the defendants in a silver Audi.

'Fresh meat'

After one of the girls told Mr Hussain she thought she was pregnant, he allegedly said she had to terminate the pregnancy or he would kill the baby himself.

Miss Colborne said Mr Rehman boasted to a woman they could get any girl they wanted and described them as ''fresh meat''.

''He said they had no reputation and if they got them young enough they could keep them forever,'' she told the court.

Meanwhile, Raksar Nawaz, 30, of Rhodes Street, Halifax, is also on trial having denied a charge of arranging or facilitating the commission of a sexual assault on a child.

Yassar Adalat, 31, of Milton Place, Halifax, has denied conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

The trial is expected to last more than six weeks.