Police have apologised to the ‘profoundly vulnerable’ victim of sex abuse in Rochdale as five men who groomed and assaulted her are due to be sentenced.
The conviction comes after one of the men, Congolese-born Freddie Kendakumana, 27, was initially arrested in 2008 after the girl, aged 15 at the time, complained to police that he had raped her.
However the investigation against Kendakumana was dropped before he was rearrested years later and finally charged, along with his co-defendants, in October 2012.
Police have apologised to the victim for failings into the original investigation nearly four years after the girl made the initial complaint as several men went on to abuse her in the intervening period.
The men plied her with alcohol and cannabis before subjecting her to sexual offences between 2008 and 2009.
Following the convictions, Assistant Chief Constable Dawn Copley, of Greater Manchester Police, said: ”We must acknowledge that there were some failings with the initial investigation carried out by Rochdale division into a complaint of rape by the victim in 2008.
”The suspect was arrested on suspicion of rape, but released without charge. The case was investigated and the officer who supervised the investigation took the decision to discontinue the case.
”In 2009 the victim in this case made a number of disclosures to the police about some of the defendants in this case.
”A decision was made to file the information gathered during this interview as intelligence and the decision was supported by the officer’s line manager.”
The victim, now aged 20, went through more than 23 hours of police interviews after confiding to a health support worker that Kendakumana was sexually forcing himself on her.
However health professionals dealing with her did not pass on her other confessions in 2008 and 2009 that she was having consensual sexual contact with a string of older men whom she labelled ‘boyfriends’.
Kendakumana of Illminster, Rochdale, was convicted of rape and sexual activity with a child. He was cleared of a second count of rape.
Mohammed Rafiq Abubaker, 25, of Freehold, Rochdale, and takeaway worker Roheez Khan, 27, of Ashfield Road, Rochdale, were found guilty of sexual activity with a child. Khan was also convicted of witness intimidation.
Chola Chansa, 33, of Illminster, Rochdale, pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a child and taxi driver Abdul Huk, 37, of Ouldfield Close, Rochdale, was found guilty of sexual activity with a child.
Image courtesy of Scott via Flickr, with thanks.
For more on this story and many others, follow Mancunian Matters on Twitter and Facebook.
