British Pakistani who 'married' child in Islamic wedding raped and 'locked her in cellar.'
The sexual predator was one of eight charged with sexual offences against the victim.
A sexual predator who married a 15-year-old girl living in a care home is one of eight men found guilty of sexual offences against her. The British Pakistani man, now 43, "married" the victim in an Islamic wedding ceremony in the early 2000s, which the court heard was attended by her key social worker.
Bradford Crown Court heard Raja Zulqurnean forced the victim to wear Islamic dress, eat a halal diet, and stopped her from seeing family because they were "non-believers". A jury also heard he sometimes locked her in a cellar at a Bradford property, sexually abused her and deprived her of food, education and medical care.
Zulqurnean was found guilty of ten counts of rape and nine indecent assaults, reports the BBC. He was jailed in May for a minimum of 18 years, but appeal court judges increased it to 23.
The court heard the victim was groomed and sexually abused by men from the age of 13, which continued when she was in a Bradford children's home. The victim said the systems designed to protect her enabled her abuse.
She told the BBC: "This was far more than a grooming case. This was an institutional scandal and no one cared for my wellbeing. I was married to an abuser. How could a child marry? Social services enabled it." Express.
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