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An individual that “married” a 15-year-old minor during an Islamic wedding ceremony is one of a group of eight to have been found guilty for sex crimes involving her.

The survivor was manipulated as well as victimized by individuals beginning when she was 13 and it persisted when she was in an area children's home, court proceedings revealed.

A Bradford Crown Court jury heard the ceremony in the early 2000s with the defendant, had present the victim's key social worker even though facility employees fearing that she was being exploited.

Zulqurnean, currently 43, was found guilty of sexual assault as well as further offenses and sentenced last May for a minimum of 18 years though it was raised up to 23 years following higher court authorities.

‘Organizational breakdown’

The survivor commented: “This exceeded an isolated incident. It highlighted organizational breakdown and no one cared for my wellbeing.

“I entered a marriage to a perpetrator. What allows a minor to marry? Social services enabled it,” she said.

The victim contacted news organizations back in 2019 concerning her experiences of being sexually exploited after seeing another perpetrator, Basharat Khaliq, within news report regarding exploitation of minors.

This individual, forty-four, who was previously incarcerated for abuse charges when the report aired, was found guilty during proceedings this past June of her rape and abuse counts and is awaiting sentence.

Documentation showed accessed by media authorities at the children's home noted that the girl “was going out with Asian men late at night without informing caregivers concerning her activities”.

The woman commented: “I was on a care order however, I was not safeguarded, and the institutions intended for my safety enabled my abuse.”

Official reports revealed the victim went missing on 101 occasions between 2002 and 2004.

A social worker testified in court that perpetrators using as many as 10 vehicles nightly frequently visited the facility and vehicle registration plates were passed to police each week.

The victim, who has a lifelong right to anonymity, commented the consequences of speaking out had been devastating.

“When I came forward, no-one told me how it would harm my mental health, how it would influence relationships with my family, how it would alter the thoughts in my brain,” she said.

“I feel like I endured greater trauma than I did as a child since I relived it repeatedly during my thirties with no respite.

“It caused psychological harm.”

‘Voices silenced’

David Greenwood, the victim's solicitor, denounced the actions of authorities and police back in the early 2000s, during the exploitation.

“Staff in that children's home knew these acts were happening, not only involving this victim but to others at the same time as well,” he stated.

“It needed to end. Authorities should have stepped in promptly and the victims likely relocated from the location.”

The survivor said other girls within the home had also complained about sexual exploitation.

“Numerous victims were reporting stuff during that era, others experienced this too,” she explained.

“The women that have got justice in recent years represent only a fraction of the victims who were abused in Bradford and Keighley.

“Numerous individuals whose voices were ignored.”

A police spokesperson mentioned that from the early 2010s onward, they had “heavily funded and improved” protective measures and taken a “careful and systematic method to exploring previous incidents”.

Officials added that numerous inquiries continue to be active, adding: “Actions taken in recent years has produced hundreds of perpetrators now serving extended jail terms.”

Local authority representative, a local official, stated there were “significant shortcomings in the way local authorities and partners in our district acted during that period and we've apologised for that”.

“They failed to safeguard the victim as expected,” she noted.

The official stated what occurred were “looked at in depth” during an earlier review on abuse cases in the district.

She mentioned the findings were included in the nationwide Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse and recommendations had been acted on in the area allowing institutions could “better protect {children in the here and now|minors