Successful prosecution of child sexual exploitation offences

Mehmet Citak and Ahmet Kurtyemez were yesterday convicted of child sexual exploitation offences, and sentenced to a combined total of 32 years in prison. Sarah Regan prosecuted in this five-week trial involving sexual offences against six victims aged between 14 and 15.

Mehmet Citak was convicted of two counts of rape and seven counts of penetrative sexual activity with a child in respect of two separate victims. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Ahmet Kurtyemez was convicted of five counts of penetrative sexual activity with a child, one count of sexual activity with a child and one count of rape. He abused five young girls and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

The two men worked at a barbers’ and piercing shop in Yeovil which attracted young girls whose trust they then abused. Two of the girls became pregnant as a result of the abuse; one was forced to undergo a termination at the age of 15 while another miscarried. All of the young girls were vulnerable, two of them particularly so and suffered significant psychological harm as a consequence of the abuse that they suffered at the hands of the two defendants.

As the NSPCC launches its ‘It’s time’ campaign urging the government to provide all abused children with the necessary support to overcome their abuse, a spokesman hailed the verdicts saying ‘ We need to ensure that people who have been abused feel confident to come forward, safe in the knowledge that they will be believed and their voices heard no matter how much time has passed’

See www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-37852425.