A man from Scunthorpe has been sentenced to five years in prison for raping a 14-year-old girl in an alleyway in Rotherham 21 years ago. Waleed Ali, 42, was found guilty of the crime at Sheffield Crown Court.
This isn’t the first time Ali has been in trouble for this kind of crime. In 2003, he was convicted of raping and assaulting another 13-year-old girl in the same alleyway.
The latest conviction comes after a woman came forward to report that she had been attacked by Ali when she was 14. She had never reported it before. The National Crime Agency investigated and found evidence to support her story.
The agency says that Ali and a group of men approached the girl in the town center and asked her to go into the alleyway. When she refused, Ali grabbed her arm and forced her to go with him. He then raped her in the alleyway.
Ali denied the crime when he was interviewed by police, but the evidence and the victim’s testimony proved he was guilty.
The officer in charge of the case, Stuart Cobb, says: “The victim suffered in silence for 21 years, but she finally got justice. I want to encourage anyone who has been a victim of child sexual abuse to come forward and report it to the police. We have specially trained officers who can help.”
This case is part of a larger investigation into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2023. Seven other men were jailed this week for similar crimes.