IT’S DIFFICULT to imagine the level of contempt the nine Lancashire men convicted this week of child exploitation must have had for their victims.
To treat young, vulnerable girls the way they did suggests that they saw them as little better than animals to be used and abused for male sexual gratification.
Asian Muslim woman commentator Yasmin Alibhai-Brown says that to such men white girls have no real value other than monetary.
She even believes that the men will be considered ‘good’ Muslims by their communities and their families may now be blaming the abused teenagers.
These girls were some of the most troubled in our society; from families who had failed them.
And, as it turns out, they were also failed by the authorities, who failed to fully investigate the claims of one of the victims back in 2008.
It is thought that at least 50 more gang members are still free, probably living outwardly respectable lives.
Ms Alibhai-Brown says she is frequently counselled against speaking out on cases such as the grooming ring in Rochdale and neighbouring towns because it fuels racism.
But, quite rightly, she says that not speaking out fuels it more.
The Crown Prosecution Service has not linked the offences to the ethnicity of the guilty men, who were all of Pakistani origin, bar one, who was an asylum seeker from Afghanistan.
Such cruelty and abuse is not just found in Asian communities, white men also run grooming rings – a fact that did not stop white youths attacking Asian-owned businesses in Rochdale during the trial.
It’s also worth pointing out that the man responsible for seeing that these nine abusers ended up in court is himself a Muslim of Pakistani origin, Nazir Afzal, the North West’s chief prosecutor.
There are good and bad people in every community.
