Muslim woman jailed for sex offence against girl, 9, despite defence insisting family shame is her punishment
Raheelah Dar, 43, was jailed today for the 'crafty' and 'isolating' abuse of the young girl
A MIDDLE-aged woman has been jailed for seven years for carrying out a string of sex offences against a young girl following the failure of an arranged marriage.
Raheelah Dar is beginning a lengthy prison sentence today after being convicted of the "isolating" and "manipulating" abuse of the girl several years ago.
The 43-year-old denied all of the charges but was found guilty of three counts of indecent assault and two counts of indecency with a child by unanimous verdicts in a trial in June of this year.
Prosecutor Christine Egerton told Teesside Crown Court that the string of assaults were carried out in an "abuse of trust".
The court heard that Dar, then aged 26, began to groom and abuse the young girl following the failure of her first arranged marriage when she found herself living back with her parents in Middlesbrough.
The victim, who is now in her early 20s, read her victim impact statement to the court from the witness stand.
She said: "As a result of the abuse I suffered as a child, I have been left feeling isolated and unable to engage with people.
related stories
"I find it very difficult to trust anybody. Physical contact such as a simple hug can bring on severe panic attacks."
She went on to tell the court that she struggles to maintain friendships as people cannot understand her mental health episodes and she even had to drop out of university as her grades had dropped significantly due to her stress.
She said that her health has suffered greatly over the years due to her fear of visiting doctors and being touched and she struggled to maintain a healthy weight and began to self harm.
She added: "I love my family immensely but I was unable to relate to them because they didn't know what I had suffered.
"I felt isolated from the community I was brought up in as the topic of child abuse is taboo and is kept behind closed doors. I was left feeling segregated."
Alison Pryor, defending, told the court that Dar had suffered with mental health issues throughout her life which had worsened due to two failed marriages and the death of her daughter in 2008.
Ms Pryor told the court that as a practising Muslim woman who has been convicted of these offences against someone of the same sex, she has been shunned by her community and urged Mr Recorder Tim Roberts QC to consider a punishment that did not involve a prison sentence.
She said: "The shame that this has brought and will bring upon Miss Dar and her family cannot be underestimated.
"This is different from what you would find in another case of this type. That is punishment over and above what this court can impose.
"Being incarcerated for the first time with her mental health issues would also have a more onerous effect on her than it would on another person."
Mr Recorder Roberts QC swiftly rejected the pleas for a non-custodial sentence saying: "I would be failing in my duties if I did not pass the immediate sentence which I impose today."
Jailing Dar, of Central Mews, Middlesbrough, for seven years, he said: "You took her under your wing and that may at first have been a generous consideration on your part but very soon you targeted her as a victim because she was vulnerable.
"You used this opportunity to corrupt her and to turn her against normal relationships between boys and girls in favour of the sexual relationship for which you were preparing her to have with yourself.
"You were 26. She was only nine. You were sexually experienced and had been married. She was an innocent. You were crafty."
He told the court that Dar had made admissions about her confusion over her sexual orientation and said: "You were experimenting on this innocent, small child as you sought to resolve your own internal conflicts."
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368.