St Leonards man gets 19-year sentence for child sex offences

Mahmand Khadir, known as David, 33, unemployed, of Carisbrooke Road, St Leonards, was sentenced at Lewes Crown Court last Thursday (July 20) having been found guilty after an eight-day trial.

He was convicted of one count of the attempted rape of a child under 13 on one specific occasion and two counts of sexual assault on the same girl, on multiple occasions over a three-year period.

Khadir was also convicted of eight counts of the rape of a girl under 13 on multiple occasions and child cruelty against the same girl on multiple occasions over a two-year period.

In sentencing Khadir, Judge Stuart Lawson-Rogers told him: “You orchestrated nothing less than a campaign of rape against a child who you treated as a sex object with no regard to your base behaviour on her. You showed little or no emotion or empathy with either of the victims. You had no remorse. Abuse of this nature, particularly against a child, can be a life-long sentence. The effects will be profound and lasting on the child who no doubt was terrified of you”

Detective Constable Nick O’Shaughnessy said: “This was a complex investigation into repeated historic child sexual abuse, involving two years’ joint work between Sussex Police, CPS and East Sussex Childrens’ Services. We discovered Khadir had specifically targeted the young girls, taking advantage of their innocence and vulnerabilities to satisfy his depraved sexual taste.

“He pleaded not guilty thereby forcing two vulnerable young people to give evidence and bravely relive the trauma to which they had been subjected.”

Liz Rugg, assistant director of East Sussex County Council Children’s Services said; “Our staff have worked tirelessly to support the young people to give evidence so that this conviction was achieved and this work will now continue as we help rebuild the lives that have been damaged by this man.”

Matt Capes from the CPS said: “Mahmand Khadir embarked upon a campaign of serious sexual abuse and physical neglect against young and highly vulnerable children. The Crown Prosecution Service carefully reviewed all of the evidence collected as part of the police investigation and worked closely with officers to ensure that we could present a strong prosecution case. Even when faced with the compelling accounts of numerous witnesses, Mr Khadir continued to deny the allegations. However having heard all the evidence a jury took only two hours to reach unanimous verdicts of guilty. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the young witnesses for their courage at coming forward and giving evidence in this difficult and disturbing case.”

Anyone with information about any sexual offending can contact Sussex Police online or by calling 101, and can arrange to talk in confidence to experienced investigators.

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