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IT took years for Nabila Sharma to build the courage to reveal what had happened to her at the hands of a paedophile imam.

Going through all the details in court was equally harrowing – but she felt it was worth it for the sake of justice.

So she was devastated to learn her abuser, Hafiz Rahman, had fled to Bangladesh after being found guilty at Wolverhampton Crown Court on October 7.

He was convicted of five counts of indecent assault on her and another girl at a mosque in Dudley more than 30 years ago.

Rahman was sentenced to 11 and a half years in jail – but, so far, authorities have been unable to track him down.

Today, Nabila bravely tells her story, and why she felt she had to speak up to try to prevent others getting hurt.

“I’m pleased he’s been found guilty and happy he’s got 11 and a half years – but it’s bittersweet,” she says.

“I’ve got victory and justice, but have I really because he’s gone?

“I couldn’t believe it when I heard he’d absconded. The whole thing from start to finish has been disaster and this really is the icing on the cake.

“I feel angry, frustrated, every emotion you can think of,” adds Nabila, who has changed her name to protect her identity.

Rahman was arrested in March 2014 but during interviews, he denied knowing or sexually assaulting Nabila.

The investigation then uncovered a second victim, who was traced before further charges were put to Rahman in January 2016.

Nabila, 40, says she was abused by Rahman almost every day between the ages of seven and 11.

It started with him taking her to his room, stroking her hair and telling her how pretty she was – but it soon escalated to more serious assaults.

“I was only seven,” she says. “I didn’t understand what he was doing other than I knew I didn’t like it.

“He began singling me out for little jobs. People thought I was teacher’s pet but he was actually isolating me from everyone else.

“In no time, he was touching me everywhere. I tried to push him away but I didn’t dare say I didn’t like it.

“I didn’t know what to say to a grown-up about it. I’d rehearse what I was going to say to Mum, then I’d get home and not know how to get the words out of my mouth.

“Everyone thought I was safe at the mosque. I had tantrums, saying I didn’t want to go, but my parents just put it down to my age – and I’d still have to go.”

One day, however, Nabila summoned up the courage to defy her abuser.

“I challenged the imam once, saying ‘If you do it again, I will tell my dad’,” she reveals.

“The way he reacted was terrifying. He rang my dad there and then, and had a chat with him.

“I was so scared I wet myself in front of him. I’d done that a couple of times before because I’d been so frightened but he’d just laugh at me.”

Rahman used to go to Nabila’s home for family dinners, and give her money as a ‘reward’. She was scared anyone would find out.

Then her worst fears seemed as though they were coming true.

“One day, when I was 11, the imam got me on top of his bed, grabbed me and started pulling my trousers down,” she recalls.

“I thought I was going to die.

“Suddenly, we heard a door go downstairs. Someone had come in so he quickly got off me and allowed me back downstairs.

“I do believe if that person hadn’t come in, I would have been raped that day.”

Nabila’s mum eventually discovered what had been happening to her daughter, and the other victim, and sent her to stay with relatives for three weeks.

The family never spoke of it again, and Nabila left the mosque and started high school.

But the abuse had done irreparable damage, affecting her relationships and her faith.

If, or when, Rahman is found and extradited to the UK he will have to serve extra time for absconding.

“His sentence would never be adequate but I thought he would have got a lot less, so I was pleased with that,” says Nabila. “I hope they find him, extradite him and bring him back but I’m not sure they ever will.

“But I’ve got to let this go. I’ve got to end it for myself.

“I’ve accepted it’s happened and he’s gone, I have to do that to give myself closure to move on with my life.”

Nabila has since come to terms with her feelings about faith. “I did lose my faith a long time ago,” she admits. “But I’ve realised that it wasn’t my faith that was wrong, it was one person.

“I’m not a particularly religious person now but I don’t blame my faith anymore. I’ve not been back to a mosque since but I don’t want to put that fear into my daughter, I don’t want her to think it’s a horrible place. Maybe we’ll one day go as a family.”