Defence counsel deny brothers involvement in Barrow sexual offences

From the North West Mail

DEFENCE submissions of three brothers on trial accused of grooming and sexually exploiting underage girls in Barrow have been heard.

A jury at Preston Crown Court heard last week how Joman Miah allegedly groomed and sexually assaulted a girl while working at Iesha’s, a takeaway owned by his family.

Zarif Khan representing Joman Miah, said: “He accepts there was a consensual sexual relationship but he says that he reasonably believed she was over 16 when any sexual activity took place. It is disputed that she wore a school uniform or that he ever picked her up from school. He also denies ever going to the Gables Hotel with her and anyone telling him that she was underage.”

The jury was also told about Amran Miah, Joman’s older brother, who allegedly raped a different girl in one of the bedrooms above the takeaway. Mr Evans told the jury that ‘she could feel his sweat dripping on her, telling him to stop and get off’ but he replied, ‘that she should keep quiet and that nobody needed to know’. He continued by explaining that ‘she felt she could not escape and was generally scared of him’ and that she described the rape ‘as seeming to last forever’.

That same victim spoke with Cumbria Police in 2009 but once Amran found out, he threatened to hurt her family if she spoke again, said Mr Evans, (counsel for the prosecution). The jury heard how the girl was then thrown into a car with Amran saying, ‘you have been warned, once you screw (us) over, you screw us all’.

Christopher Moran, representing the defendant, said in his defence: “He denies the charges put against him and says he must have been mistaken for somebody else.”

The jury then heard how Alman Miah allegedly had intercourse with the same girl in one of the bedrooms above the takeaway but Harriet Tighe in mitigation, said: “He denies he was ever in a relationship with her and denies being flirtatious or having any sexual contact.”

The trial continues.