Newcastle teen ‘fought grooming gang by biting his tongue’

A teenage girl fended off an attack by a member of a grooming gang after biting his tongue and shoving him against a wall – knocking him out cold – a court heard.

Prosecutors claim the alleged victim was one of six women and girls who were targeted by a group of older men who raped and sexually assaulted vulnerable females as young as 13.  

Newcastle Crown Court heard victims were lured to parties and gatherings at houses and flats, where alcohol and drugs were freely available, and were expected to provide sexual favours and services in return. 

One woman told jurors today she was left in tears after being attacked at a house in Newcastle by ‘dirty’ Ribas Asad after a night out in the city in 2007, when she was 16.

Ribas Asad (pictured outside Newcastle Crown Court today) attacked a woman at a house in 2007, a court heard

She said the attacker grabbed at her clothing and mumbled at her in a foreign language during the ordeal, that left her shaken and in tears. 

The woman said the sexual assault ended when Asad hit his head against a wall when she pushed him away and appeared to knock himself out. 

Giving her evidence from behind a screen she said she had been getting dressed in an upstairs bedroom at the house when Asad came into the room and grabbed her around the midriff. 

She told jurors: ‘I said ‘don’t, stop it, no, pushed him off, tried to push him off. ‘He ripped my top off. 

‘He was grabbing it. 

Asad, 29, paying for the sexual services of a child, conspiracy to arrange or facilitate the prostitution of a child, supplying a controlled drug, causing a child to engage in sexual activity and sexual activity with a child

Asad, 29, paying for the sexual services of a child, conspiracy to arrange or facilitate the prostitution of a child, supplying a controlled drug, causing a child to engage in sexual activity and sexual activity with a child

‘He stuck his tongue in my mouth. I bit his tongue. 

‘He was just mumbling, in his language.’ 

The woman told jurors Asad appeared to be swearing and called her a ‘bitch’ during the attack. 

She added: ‘He came again and tried to grab me so I pushed him against the wall, I think he knocked his head off the wall and he slid down the wall. 

‘It looked like he was asleep so I just ran for it.’ 

The alleged victim said a friend, who had been at the house with her, and a taxi driver who took them home, were aware of what had happened to her that night but she did not tell the police immediately. 

When asked to describe Asad, the woman told jurors he was ‘dirty’ and ‘sleazy’. 

The youngest alleged victim involved in the case has told the court she was passionately kissed by Palla Pour on two separate occasions when she was only 13. 

The woman, who is now in her 20s, said she did want to kiss Pour at the time and had not objected. 

But she told jurors: ‘I was a child, I was young, I was 13, he kissed me first, it was nice. 

I may have wanted it but when I look back, I was 13.’ 

Prosecutor Anne Richardson has told the court the some victims were ‘forced’ into sexual situations with the men or were so intoxicated they were unable to consent to what happened to them. 

Miss Richardson said the women and girls were treated as ‘commodities’, passed around various men and sometimes believed they were in relationships with their abusers. 

Five men are on trial, with the assistance of four interpreters, facing a total of 31 charges of sex and drugs offences, which they all deny. 

Heiman Mohammed (left), 26, and Saman Obaid (right), also 26, are accused of a string of offences alongside Asad

Palla Pour (left), 25, and Soran Azizi (right), 28, are also accused of being part of the same grooming gang

  • Soran Azizi, 28, of Byker, Newcastle, denies charges of rape, sexual activity with a child and trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation. 
  • Palla Pour, 25, of Longbenton, Newcastle, denies offences of sexual activity with a child, paying for the sexual services of a child, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, supplying controlled drug to another and permitting his premises to be used for the supply of drugs. 
  • Ribas Asad, 29, of Cruddass Park, Newcastle, denies sexual assault, paying for the sexual services of a child, conspiracy to arrange or facilitate the prostitution of a child, supplying a controlled drug, causing a child to engage in sexual activity and sexual activity with a child. 
  • Heiman Mohammed, 26, of Newcastle, denies charges of sexual activity with a child, paying for the sexual services of a child and supplying a controlled drug. 
  • Saman Obaid, 26, of Byker, Newcastle, denies sexual activity with a child, paying for the sexual services of a child, conspiracy to arrange or facilitate the prostitution of a child and supplying a controlled drug. 

All five men, who prosecutors say are all associated with each other but had varying roles in the offending, are being tried by a jury. 

Miss Richardson said the alleged victims in the case were not all connected but all, to some extent, had experienced a difficult upbringing. 

All five men deny all charges against them. 

The trial, which is expected to last up to six weeks, continues. 

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