Councillors give their backing to ‘hard working family man’ accused in Rochdale 'grooming' case

Abdul Qayyum said he was not the man who had sex with one of the girls Two councillors have told a court that a taxi driver accused of grooming under-age girls for sex is a 'hard-working family man'. Members of Rochdale council and a solicitor spoke in support for Abdul Qayyum, 44, one of 11 men accused of abusing girls as young as 13. The married father-of-two, of Ramsey Street in Rochdale, denies one count of conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child.

One of the five girls to have given evidence during the trial at Liverpool Crown Court has said she had sex with Mr Qayyum, who she knew as Tiger. Mr Qayyum has told the jury the girl must have been mistaken and that he was not known as Tiger. He told the court he had worked as a taxi driver before setting up his own breakdown recovery business.

Under cross-examination by Rachel Smith for the prosecution, Mr Qayyum was questioned about how the girl had picked him out of a video identification parade as the man called Tiger with whom she had sex. Speaking through an interpreter Mr Qayyum replied: "It must be some misunderstanding, her misunderstanding." His accuser, the court heard, told police Tiger was 'best mates' with Billy, another defendant Adil Khan. Mr Qayyum said Adil Khan had 'many' best friends, naming four of them for the court.

He denies an accusation from Miss Smith he was lying when he claimed not to be known by the name Tiger. He said one of his two brothers, also a taxi driver, had shared his taxi and that Tiger was a call sign for the car rather than his name.


His barrister Phillip Boyd read out a series of references speaking up for his client to the jury. One of them from Councillor Aftab Hussain said: "I have known Abdul Qayyum for the last 10 years as a local resident in the area. He lives with his wife and two children. Mr Qayyum is a hard-working person. He has worked hard throughout his life. Within the community, he comes across very well and I have never seen or heard of any wrongdoing before this case. I personally was shocked to hear about this news."

Councillor Zulfiqar Ali, a former Mayor of Rochdale, wrote: "I have known Mr Abdul Qayyum since the 1990s when he arrived in Rochdale. "He has lived in Rochdale all of this time. "All the years he has lived in Rochdale he has always been involved in community activities and always makes time to help others, for example cleaning the neighbourhood, helping out in the local youth club and most importantly he looks after his family. "Abdul has a wife and children that live in Rochdale. "He has fully adopted the British way of life (Note : but needs an interpreter in court ?) and has made many friends because of this. "Abdul is one of those men the community has really taken to – they are really proud to have him as part of the wider family. He is hard-working and dedicated." Proceeding

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1491625_councillors-give-their-backing-to-hard-working-family-man-accused-in-rochdale-grooming-case

NWN: So it's only 'fellow asian' councillors supporting this chap ? This is one of the main problems. When the asian community get up mischief, 'their' leaders always fail to condemn, when the crimes are committed against white people.

Rochdale Cllr Zulfiqar Ali, is obviously telling lies here when he says that Abdul Qayyum "has fully adopted the British way of life", when he has lived here for longer than 10 years but needs an interpreter in court !