13 Jun 2025
Akhtar Gul Rhamani, aged 52, pleaded guilty to sexual assault of a child under 13
A dad-of-nine has been jailed after he gave a schoolboy £15 before sexually abusing him in an allotment shed. Akhtar Gul Rhamani, who has raised 11 children in total, approached his victim who was walking home and led him to the allotment.
Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard the 52-year-old Afghan national, of The Parkway, Hanley, handed £15 to the boy who in turn tried to give it back. But the defendant grabbed the boy by his stomach and legs and forced him sit on his lap.
Prosecutor James Hudson said Rhamani would not let go and pushed the boy back so he was lying down. He then kissed his cheek multiple times and asked the boy to do the same to him.
It was at this point that he grabbed the victim by his neck and put his face near to the boy’s ear. The youngster asked if he could go but the defendant told him ‘No’. The boy then suggested they should leave the shed together and he described speed walking out of the allotment, dropping the £15 by the gate.
The court heard he was crying as he made his way home where he told his parents what had happened. The defendant was detained until the police arrived.
CCTV showed the boy leaving the allotment 20 minutes after he arrived and the defendant’s DNA was found on him.
In a statement the victim’s dad described the impact the incident has had on the family. The children are no longer left alone and do not go out to play. The victim’s father said: “It has caused anxiety and fear within all of us. It has had an emotional and psychological effect on us. There has been financial loss.”
Rhamani pleaded guilty to sexual assault of a child under 13. Barry White, mitigating, said the defendant was very embarrassed about what happened and offers his apologies. Mr White said: “He has lived in the UK for more than 20 years. He has nine biological children and has raised two nephews. He and his wife have raised 11 children. Five still live with them. His wife is in ill health.
“He has committed no further offences since this matter. After the incident took place he sustained injuries including a broken rib and facial and leg injuries from concerned parties. I do not believe any prosecution was brought in relation to that.
“He recognises it was very much drink-related. He has already self-referred to a drug and alcohol service and has been undergoing treatment with them. He is deemed a low risk of re-offending.
“This was not abduction but the deliberate isolation of the victim. I would submit the time in the shed was a very much shorter duration (than the 20 minutes).”
The court heard the defendant was given indefinite leave to remain in the UK in 2017. Jailing Rhamani for 38 months, Judge Richard McConaghy said: “You approached the boy, who you did not know, on the street. You convinced him to go with you to an allotment shed. It is clear to me he went with you because he was scared of the consequences if he did not.
“You made him sit on your knee, you rubbed his leg, and you touched his torso over clothing. It seems you made him lie flat on your knee at one stage and you kissed him on his cheek multiple times. You asked him to kiss you. You forced £15 on him. That might have been to pay him for what was happening in that shed. At one stage when he asked if he could go you told him he could not.
“He eventually convinced you to walk out with him and fortunately he had the sense to run from you. When you were confronted by members of his family you were drunk and aggressive.
“The young boy was abused and petrified by the ordeal that you had put him through. The ongoing effect on the family has been significant.
“I do not conclude that abduction is a proper description of what took place in this case. You were with the boy for 20 minutes or so. Not all of it was inside the shed. But it is clear the incident began when you approached him to persuade him to come to the shed.”
Rhamani was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.
https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/dad-nine-caged-after-sexually-10257302