Muslim Community in Britain Reacts to Child Sex Scandal
Nine men are accused of sexually exploiting girls aged between 11 and 15. Seven men were found guilty and two were cleared (Credit: BBC/Julia Quenzler)
Seven local men have been found guilty of rape, trafficking and arranging a child prostitution ring.
The convicted men are of Pakistani and North African backgrounds.
Their victims were as young as 11-years-old.
The abuse had apparently been going on for eight years.
Sara Thornton is the local police chief whose department handled the investigation.
She apologized this week for the not bringing the perpetrators to justice sooner.
“I accept responsibility and I’m very sorry it took so long to get this case to court,” Thornton says.
Along with the police chief, members of Oxford’s Muslim community are doing some some soul searching of their own wondering how the abusers were able to commit their crimes for so long.
Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Talat Ahmed, chair of the Social and Family Affairs Committee of the Muslim Council of Britain.
Ahmed hopes her group will discuss child and sex exploitation with the Muslim community and why “boys and men look at women in such a degrading manner.”
The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.