SHEFFIELD MAN JAILED FOR GROOMING AND RAPING TEENAGE GIRLS IN ROTHERHAM
A man has been found guilty of grooming and raping two teenage girls in Rotherham more than 20 years ago.Sheffield Crown Court heard how Obaidullah Omari, 46, from Sheffield, targeted vulnerable girls aged between 13 and 14 at the time of their abuse.
Omari, who was in his 20s during the offences, provided the girls with alcohol and drugs before abusing them between 2003 and 2004.
The jury determined that Omari raped the first girl multiple times at two locations – his house in Eastwood and in his car.
He was also convicted of raping the second girl on one separate occasion.
Both victims came forward to Operation Stovewood over twenty years after the abuse, sharing their accounts with authorities, which led to Omari's arrest in 2019.
He was convicted of three counts of rape and two counts of indecent assault after a two-week trial.
However, he was found not guilty of one count of raping a child under 13 related to the second victim.
His co-defendant, Shafakit Hussain, 46, from Rotherham, received a not guilty verdict on three counts of rape concerning the second victim.
Omari is among 48 individuals convicted as part of the National Crime Agency’s Operation Stovewood, an investigation into child sexual abuse in Rotherham from 1997 to 2013.
Sentencing for Omari was scheduled for Thursday.
NCA senior investigating officer Alan Hastings praised the bravery of the victims, stating: “I pay tribute to the bravery of these two women – what they have been through is unimaginable, yet they were still able to tell us their stories and give evidence.
Without that we would not have been able to get these convictions.” The trial was opened to jurors last month, with prosecutor Matthew Bean highlighting that both girls were “the product of fractured or failing families” and were under care when the abuse happened.
