A VILE grooming gang who raped vulnerable schoolgirls have been jailed after a brave victim came forward when she saw a BBC show about abuse.
Anthony Anantharajah, 35, Abalzaq Salih, 31, and Saif Kahya, 32, targeted four teenage girls in Plymouth, Devon.
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The predators plied the girls, who were aged between 14 and 16, with alcohol before raping them at house parties.
They also gave them cash to buy booze and drugs so they could exploit them.
Their horrific crimes only came to light when one of the brave victims watched BBC drama Three Girls about the Rochdale grooming scandal and spoke to police.
Anantharajah, Salih and Kahya have now been jailed for a total of 44 years after being convicted of a string of sex offences.
Plymouth Crown Court heard the victims were abused at three house parties held at the fiends’ addresses in 2017.
Prosecutor Dan Pawson-Pounds said: “These events had one thing in common – they were designed by these defendants and others to exploit vulnerable young girls; to get them away from whatever family structures they had, give them moneydrink, and drugs, and then to sexually assault them when their defences were down.”
One victim woke up on Anantharajah’s bed to find the predator raping her.
On another occasion, a number of the victims were given drink and drugs at a house party held by Salih.
One girl, who was aged under 15, was attacked by the monster after she passed out.
Another victim was raped by Salih after she confronted him for trying to sexually assault her friend.
The fourth victim, who was 16 at the time, was raped by Kahya in his bedroom at the same house party.
She came forward in January 2022 and told officers she had been raped when she watched the BBC drama Three Girls.
The court was told the programme had “triggered her” – and led to the arrest of all three men under an investigation codenamed Operation Garcia.
In a victim impact statement, the girl said: “I didn’t speak for a few days after I was raped. I now know that this is because I was in shock.
“I felt terrified, numb and I wasn’t able to process what had happened. I didn’t know what to say. I knew I had been raped but couldn’t remember the finer details because I had got so drunk on the alcohol I was given.
“I wanted to end my life, so I didn’t have to face each day and live with what happened.”
One of the youngest girls, who was just 14 when she was attacked by Salih, told how she went from the “happy, smiley” child she was to someone who was “angry, secretive and broken”.
She added: “I was sad all the time and I could see no way out. I was hiding the truth about the worst thing that could happen to me – to be raped by a stranger, an older man, at a flat where I was trying to care for two of my friends who had passed out due to the alcohol the two men had given them.”
Another victim, who was also 14 at the time of the horrortold the court her “childhood innocence” had been taken away.
While the fourth girl added: “The impact on my life remains huge. I will never recover from what Anthony did to me.
“I will never forget this face, his smell, my fear, and feelings of disgust, my loss of respect for myself and my body.”
The predators denied having any sexual contact with the victims and instead accused the girls of making it up but jurors saw through their lies.
Anantharajah, from London, was sentenced to 13 years in prison with seven on licence after being found guilty of one count of rape of a female aged 16 or over.
Salih, from Plymouth, was handed 19 years in jail for two counts of rape of a female aged 15 or under.
While Kahya, from Liverpool, was sentenced to 12 years after being convicted of one count of rape of a female aged 16 or over.
Plymouth Commander, Temporary Chief Superintendent Scott Bradley, said: “I want to start by praising the immense bravery of each one of the survivors in this case.
“They have all been through a harrowing ordeal yet have still managed to find the courage to support the investigation, and criminal justice proceedings. Without them, we would not have been able to achieve this outcome today.
“I hope the sentencing can bring some sense of justice for all involved in this case, as they strive to move on with their lives.”
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