As the Rotherham abuse trial proceeds, further harrowing evidence of the alleged victims’ experiences comes to light. One such witness said she had a baby after being raped by two of the defendants, following which threats were made to take the child to Pakistan.

The woman, now 36 years old, told the Rotherham abuse trial at Sheffield Crown Court that her sexual abuse began when she was just 11, reports The Sheffield Star. Referring to a man she called ‘Mad Ash’ — a man the prosecution say is 40 year old defendant Arshid Hussain — she said she originally considered him to be her ‘boyfriend’ but that she was forced to have sex with him, being attacked when she refused.

In a recorded police interview shown to the jury, the alleged victim said she had seen ‘Mad Ash’ and a co-defendant called Sajid Bostan at the Prince of Wales Hotel in Masbrough where she was taken to an upstairs room. Pinned down by ‘Mad Ash’, Mr. Bostan is said to have held her legs to allow his friend to have sex with her.

She added: “After he finished, he spat in my face and said: ‘Here Saj you can do whatever you want now’.”

Mr. Bostan is then said to have had sex with her while his co-defendant kept her pinned her down with her legs tied in a bedsheet.

Several weeks later she discovered she was pregnant, and she went on to give birth. After that the two co-defendants are said to have gone to the house she was in and, putting a knife to her chest, threatened to take the child to Pakistan.

The incident was only one of several abusive events the witness recounted. On another occasion, Mr. Bostan, Mr. Hussain and his brother ‘Bono’ took her to The Wicker in Sheffield for chicken and chips. She was then forced into a car boot and driven to London, where she was made to have sex with several other Pakistani men in their 20s.

She alleged that Mr. Hussain said she had to let the men have sex with her as he owed them money and if she refused she would be left in London.

In yet another incident, Mr. Hussain is said to have stubbed a lit cigarette on her right breast before flicking it into her hair which caught fire.

The victim told police she did try to tell the staff of her children’s home about the abuse, “but they just didn’t seem to want to know.”

Mr. Ash and Mr. Boston are two of five men and two women being tried for their part in a child grooming ring that operated in Rotherham for over 10 years, charges which all the defendants deny in the continuing trial.