Forensic samples taken from a 13 year old girl, who told police she had been repeatedly raped, were “not retained”, a court has heard.

The alleged victim is one of three complainants in a case being heard at Sheffield Crown Court. Eight men deny 19 charges, including rape and indecent assault, alleged to have taken place in the Rotherham area between 1999 and 2003.

The complainant told police on 8 April 2003 that defendant Sageer Hussain had repeatedly raped her. Peter Hampton, prosecuting, told the court, “Forensic samples were taken from the girl but were not retained due to the fact that the allegation was not pursued.”

The girl had given police clothing as evidence, which they “lost”. She withdrew the complaint six days later saying she had received threats.

The complainant’s father told the court he had received phone calls from men saying they would burn his house down and gang rape his wife.

The court also heard that files from Risky Business from the time period of the complaint can’t be traced. Risky Business was a service supporting children at risk of abuse in Rotherham.

Hampton said “it is not known” what happened to the files.

The complainant spoke to police again in October 2003 and reported being assaulted by defendants Masoued Malik and Naeem Rafiq. Her mother told the court, “She told me the men were coming for her, she mentioned the names Nemy, Masy and a male who was Iraqi and that they were taking her to a flat.”

The court heard that this allegedly involved Malik and Rafiq.

Phones

Hampton said mobile phones were seized from Malik in October 2003 but “are no longer in the property store”.

The complainant told police in 2003 that she had been raped by defendant Waleed Ali and that Ali had watched Sageer Hussain rape her.

The court heard that records from the complainant’s phone showed she had made calls in 2003 to numbers attributed to Malik, Rafiq and Ali.

The complainant’s mother said her daughter changed “from a lovely girl to an animal” during the alleged abuse.

She said she once found a mobile phone in her daughter’s bedroom and rang a number belonging to “Waleed”. She said a man answered and said, “I ain’t done owt, I ain’t touched her. It isn’t me.”

The woman said when she later asked her daughter about the phone, she burst into tears and said, “They’re raping me.”

Hampton added that defendant Ishtiaq Khaliq was not charged with breaching his bail conditions or witness intimidation when he contacted the complainant on Facebook in October 2015. This was two days after he was charged with raping her.

The case continues.