AN ALLEGED child sex victim has a “clouded memory” as she often took enough drugs to “floor a grown man”, the Old Bailey heard yesterday.

The trial of nine men suspected of running a child sex gang in Oxford also heard the witness was not “exploited” because she lied about her age and consented to sex.

Defence barristers finished their closing speeches yesterday.

Grahame James, defending Bilal Ahmed, said the 16-year-old complainant known as Girl 5 had often taken enough drugs “to perhaps floor a grown man”.

He said: “Mix that with the fact that she accepts herself that she had sexual encounters with lots of Asian men. You get a dangerous place where there is a clouded memory of what she has been up to in the last year or two.”

Ahmed denies having sex with Girl 5 when she was 14 in 2011. He claims he only met her twice. His barrister questioned why there were no details of the allegation including a time or a date.

Mr James said the witness was “dangerously suggestible” as she had agreed with almost every suggestion put to her.

He said to the jury: “Can you rely on her memory alone?”

Another defence barrister told the jury the witness had only ever done what she wanted to do.

Zeeshan Ahmed, 27, denies two counts of sexual activity with a child. Girl 5 says she had sex with him more than five times in his flat above Simpli Fresh in Cowley Road when she was 13 and 14. He denies he knew she was underage.

His lawyer James Mulholland said it was a “significantly different” case than that against some of the other men in the dock.

He said Girl 5 did not go to school when she wanted, and had punched defendant Akhtar Dogar in the face when he asked her for sex.

He said: “This is a girl who does not do what she does not want to do.

“This not a situation of manipulation, of an older man befriending a younger person in a sinister fashion.”

The barrister also gave the jury a list of 12 reasons why his client may not have known Girl 5 was underage, including her dressing to appear older, and being physically mature for her age.

Girl 6 claims she had sex with Ahmed while drunk at his home. But Mr Mulholland said his client did not know she was under 16 and questioned whether she had turned 16 when it happened.

Judge Peter Rook will begin his summing tomorrow morning.

Before the court are:

  • Kamar Jamil, 27, of Aldrich Road, Summertown, Oxford, denies five rapes, two charges of conspiracy to rape, one of arranging or facilitating child prostitution, and one of trafficking for sexual exploitation.
  • Akhtar Dogar, 32, of Tawney Street, East Oxford, denies five rapes, three charges of conspiracy to rape, two of arranging or facilitating child prostitution, and trafficking for sexual exploitation.
  • Anjum Dogar, 31, of Tawney Street, East Oxford, denies three rapes, three charges of conspiracy to rape, two of arranging or facilitating child prostitution, and trafficking for sexual exploitation.
  • Assad Hussain, 32, of Ashhurst Way, Rose Hill, Oxford, denies rape and two charges of sexual activity with a child.
  • Mohammed Karrar, 38, of Kames Close, Cowley, denies seven rapes, four charges of conspiracy to rape, two of trafficking for sexual exploitation, two of arranging or facilitating child prostitution, serious sexual assault, conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child, using an instrument to procure a miscarriage, and supplying a Class A drug to another.
  • Bassam Karrar, 33, of Hundred Acres Close, Cowley, denies three rapes, three charges of conspiracy to rape, two charges of arranging or facilitating child prostitution, and trafficking for sexual exploitation.
  • Mohammed Hussain, 24, of Horspath Road, Cowley, Oxford, denies three charges of sexual activity with a child.
  • Zeeshan Ahmed, 27, of Palmer Road, Wood Farm, Oxford, denies two charges of sexual activity with a child.
  • Bilal Ahmed, 26, of Suffolk Road, Maidenhead, denies sexual activity with a child.

The trial continues.