12 January 2024
Iranian national Hussain, an asylum seeker with “no right to remain in the United Kingdom at the present time”, has no previous convictions. Gerald Baxter, defending, told the court: “He has no previous record, but of course for this type of offence that is of little significance.”
A shopkeeper who raped a girl after giving her free vapes has been jailed.
Saidi Hussain, 24, was described as having “no regard for his victim” by prosecutors after ignoring the 17-year-old’s pleas to stop the assault at a shop in Bootle, Merseyside in 2022.
He originally denied any sexual contact but after DNA samples were found he said it was consensual, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
Hussain was sentenced to nine years after a trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
Jurors heard how he had given the girl vapes on a number of occasions and she said he had “seemed friendly”.
On 5 March 2022, he had given her another free vape and she left the shop but returned with a friend to ask if she could get another vape for him.
‘Courage and strength’
Hussain then told her to follow him into the back of the shop while he got the product, which she did “out of trust”, the CPS said.
He instead attacked her, ignoring her pleas for him to stop.
The CPS said Hussain denied any sexual contact however DNA samples from the victim’s clothing matched his and he changed his story to say all sexual activity was consensual.
He was found guilty of two counts of rape and sexual assault.
Hussain will remain on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely and a restraining order prevents him from contacting the victim.
Senior Crown Prosecutor Sarah Egan said: “Saidi Hussain had no regard for his victim, only his own sexual gratification.
“We would like to thank her for the courage and strength she has shown throughout the proceedings, as well as the other parties involved who have helped us bring this prosecution to a successful conclusion.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-67958157
On 11 January 2024 at Liverpool Crown Court he was sentenced to nine years in prison and will remain on the sex offenders register indefinitely. The Crown Prosecution Service also successfully applied for a restraining order to prevent him ever contacting or approaching the victim again.
Senior Crown Prosecutor Sarah Egan, a specially trained lawyer in CPS Mersey-Cheshire’s Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) Unit said: “Saidi Hussain had no regard for his victim, only his own sexual gratification.
“We would like to thank her for the courage and strength she has shown throughout the proceedings, as well as the other parties involved, who have helped us bring this prosecution to a successful conclusion. We hope that the prosecution allows her to move forward with her life.
“The Crown Prosecution Service takes crimes of this nature very seriously and will continue to work hard to ensure offenders of sexual abuse are brought to justice.”
https://www.cps.gov.uk/mersey-cheshire/news/man-jailed-raping-teenage-customer-shop
Hussain was found guilty of two counts of rape and one of sexual assault by a jury. Appearing in court via video link and assisted by a Kurdish interpreter, he was jailed for nine years – a term of which he must serve at least two thirds before being released on licence – on Thursday.
Sentencing, Judge David Potter said: “She was known to you as a customer in the shop where you helped out from time to time. She knew you, and you had been friendly towards her and had given her free vapes in the past.
“On this Sunday, she had been drinking and was tipsy but not falling down drunk. She went into the mini market in order to obtain a vape.
“Having got that, she left. She then telephoned a friend, who asked her to go back to the shop to obtain some cigarettes, so she returned to the shop.
“When she returned to the shop, you were the only other person there. She asked you for cigarettes, but you told her they were kept in the back of the shop and so you showed her the way through to a back room in the premises.
“Once there, you having directed her to be in the back of the shop with you, you raped and sexually assaulted her. By this time, she was in a state of complete panic.
“She did not know what to do. She had been entirely traumatised by your assault of her.
“You were interviewed by the police and lied, saying that there had been absolutely no sexual contact with her at all and that she was, in effect, making the whole thing up. You later changed that account to say that, in fact, she had initiated all of the sexual contact – you being reluctant and she being the person in charge.
“You later changed that account, and before the jury said that no sex took place between you in the back of that shop. She has found it very difficult to come to terms with what happened.
“Understandably, her greatest fear is going into shops, such is where these traumatic events took place. Her trust in strangers has, quite simply, evaporated.
“She had been drinking, and you were friendly from previous occasions. You took advantage of that and isolated her in an unfamiliar environment so as to commit these very serious offences.
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/teenagers-biggest-fear-after-horrific-28429110