Rotherham abuse relative walks free after intimidating witness

Kaleem Ali, 18, was found guilty after a trial last month of intimidating the woman ahead of a two-month sex abuse trial at Sheffield Crown Court, which involved Ali’s father, Qurban Ali, and cousins Basharat, Bannaras and Arshid Hussain.

All received lengthy prison sentences after being found guilty of a catalogue of sexual offences against teenage girls over two decades.

Rotherham Magistrates’ Court heard today that Ali had approached the witness a victim of the gang’s sex offences who cannot be named for legal reasons - as she sat in her car in traffic with her two children.

Mark Hughes, prosecuting, said: “The victim in this case was waiting to give evidence to the Crown Court as part of a trial relation to Operation Clover that investigate abuse carried out in the late 1980s to the early 2000s.

“She was a complainant in relation to a defendant called Arshid Hussain.

“This defendant [Ali] is a cousin of Arshid Hussain.

“On March 15, 2015, [the victim] was in a vehicle with her son aged 13 and another child aged eight.

“She was stuck in traffic at roadworks when she was the defendant at the side of the road.

“She saw he had starting speaking to her and she wound the window down.

“He [Ali] said: ‘You are [her name] and that’s [her son’s name]. You know Ash.

“Traffic began to slowly move forward and he [Ali] took out his mobile phone and began to take pictures of the car.”

Mr Hughes said Ali took out another mobile phone and appeared to be making a call on it.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, later found Ali’s Facebook profile after an online search and passed it on to the police.

Mr Hughes said when police stopped Ali they found two mobile phones but neither had pictures of the woman or her car.

Mr Hughes: “He said he knew who she was and that she had accused his relative of things.”

In a victim statement read to the court, the woman said: “I truly believe he was out to intimidate me.

“When he got on his phone I was sure he wanted other people to join.

“It was obvious to me that this all had to do with the investigation as he mentioned Ash.

“Since this has happened I have been even more paranoid and I am frightened by any Asian male that approaches me as I think he is connected to Ash.

“After this incident I could have dropped my complaint against Ash and I am glad I had the courage to continue.”

Steve Smith, mitigating, said: “In fairness there isn’t any mention of comments like: ‘I will hurt you. Do not got to court. You are a liar’.

“This is a case where he has not gone out to speak to a person. This was a chance meeting.”

Mr Smith said Ali, of Rotherham had been targeted with comments such as “pervert’s son” since his dad was jailed in February for 10 years for his role in the town’s sex gang.

Mr Smith said: “He has been branded by association with who he is and what his parentage is.”

Imposing a three-year restraining order on Ali, chair of the bench Sandra Butterworth, said: “We are making a restraining order to the purpose of protecting [the woman] by any means for three years.

“During these three years you must not contact her.”

Ali, dressed in a black gilet, black and white t-shirt and black jeans, nodded in the dock as Mrs Butterworth also handed down a 12-month community order, a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement, a 12-week curfew and ordered him to pay £300 in costs and a £60 victim surcharge.