Two Indian restaurateurs from Peterhead have been convicted of sexually assaulting a pair of teenage girls after taking them on an all-expenses-paid night out in Aberdeen.
Zara’s Indian Cuisine chef Muhammad Abdur Rakib and manager Muhammad Abdul Kaium stood trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, and a jury found them guilty after four days of evidence.
Their victims – who were aged 16 and 17 – described how the men, both aged 37, took them to a nightclub for drinks before leading them to a city-centre hotel.
Sentence set for July
Rakib, who was described as being the head chef at the Indian restaurant during the trial and as an Uber delivery driver in his police interview, was found guilty of sexually assaulting both of the girls in a room at the Mercure Hotel on Union Terrace.
Kaium was found guilty of sexually assaulting one of the girls in the car journey into Aberdeen.
Delivered a curry before committing sexual assaults
Giving evidence over two days, both teenagers – named Witness One and Witness Two to protect their identities – said they were invited to Zara’s Indian Cuisine after closing on February 11 2023, to help themselves to alcohol from the bar ahead of travelling into Aberdeen.
As they drank, Rakib finished an order for Cruden Bay, which they brought along in the car to deliver.
It was after making that delivery that Witness One, who was 17 at the time, was sexually assaulted by Kaium in the car.
“He started trying to pull me closer,” she said.
“I tried pushing his hands away, or slapping his hands. He kept trying to get his hand into my trousers. He kept trying to lift my top or unbutton my trousers. I froze. I was trying to move his hands away. I just froze.”
In Aberdeen, following drinks at a bar in the city, Rakib would attack both of the girls at different times in a room the Mercure Hotel.
After ordering room service at 3.33am – the invoice said it was for four vodkas and Diet Pepsi – Witness One said Rakib pounced.
She said: “He was taking my top off. Every time I would pull it down he would take my hand away.
“He put his hand on my thigh. He just wouldn’t stop. He would pull my face back, he kept trying to move my hand so I was touching his groin.”
Rakib, she said, would eventually mount and pin her using his knees to trap her wrists and remove her top.
“He was trying to get me to do things to him,” she said.
Witness Two, who was then 16, also gave evidence against Rakib.
She described the atmosphere changing after they encountered other men in Soul Bar, which prompted Rakib to tell her: “Tonight is about us.”
She told the jury: “I think he meant he wanted some favours, if you know what I mean. That he wanted some sexual favours.
“He kept on saying ‘tonight is about us, tonight is about us’.”
Sexual assault in hotel room
At the hotel, she said Rakib began touching her inappropriately.
“He was touching me on my bottom and on my breasts,” she told the jury.
“He got on top of me. Like, he straddled me. He had one of my whole breasts out and he started biting me. He started squeezing me.
“He was trying to kiss me on my lips and on my breast. I was telling him to get off me. Eventually I managed to kind of shove him away with my leg.
“He had his hand in my waistband to start with and kept trying to move his hand lower and lower. I was telling him to get off and that I didn’t want this. I can’t remember how it came to an end. I was scared that it was going to go a lot further.”
CCTV footage shown to the jury showed the girls eventually escaping their ordeal at about 4.50am.
‘Trying to evade justice’
Both men, who relied on interpreters, maintained their innocence throughout the trial and neither gave evidence during the case.
But excerpts of Rakib’s police interview were read to the court.
In it, he told constables he agreed to drive the girls to Aberdeen because they told him they needed to get to the city to meet friends.
He also accused the girls of telling him they were both 19 and of “trying to plan harm” to him.
Legal bid to halt trial halfway through
On the third day of the trial, Rakib had claimed through his solicitor that he was unable to understand the court-ordered translator because the Bengali she spoke was unfamiliar to him.
His defence agent, Leonard Burkinshaw, said Rakib could have understood “60% at best” of what was said on the second day of the trial and called for it to be abandoned and new dates set.
Fiscal depute Brian Young objected to the claim, saying: “It’s the accused simply looking to evade justice.”
Rakib had previously caused the trial to be delayed at its last calling because he decided he wanted an interpreter for the hearing.
The court also heard he had refused one for his police interview on the day of his arrest, and had communicated with his own solicitor in English.
Referencing this in his decision, Sheriff Ian Wallace instructed Mr Burkinshaw to keep his client updated with what he may have missed and ordered the trial to continue to its conclusion.
“I’m satisfied there would be limited impact on his trial”, he said.
Men on sex offenders register
On the fourth day of the trial, Andrew Ormiston, representing Kaium, also requested the trial be deserted after new defence evidence came to light.
Kaium had provided screenshots of CCTV footage from within Zara’s, filmed in 2023, that the defence wished to use in its evidence.
Mr Ormiston said his client’s reason for not producing it earlier was: “I didn’t realise the witness was going to lie in court.”
Sheriff Wallace also rejected this request, saying there was “not a sufficiently good reason for it being submitted late”.
The men, both of Rose Street in Peterhead, will now return to court in July for sentencing.
Before allowing them to leave the court on bail, Sheriff Wallace said: “I must now inform you that because of the sexual nature of the offences of which you’ve been convicted, you’re now subject to the notification requirement of the sexual offences act.
“You must now notify the police of your name and address and subsequently any change of name or address.”