A paedophile who sexually abused two children could be given a harsher sentence than usual because of the Asian community his victims were from, a judge has ruled.
In a Court of Appeal ruling in the case of Jamal Muhammed Raheem Ul Nasir, Mr Justice Walker said it was right that he had been given a longer prison sentence because of the particular effect the crimes had on his victims, due to the nature of the Asian community they came from.
The 32-year-old was convicted of sexually assaulting two girls under the age of 13 and was handed a seven-year jail term in December.
Sally Cahill QC, the judge who originally sentenced Ul Nasir, from West Yorkshire, said the fact his victims were Asian was an aggravating factor when considering the sentence to pass - because it had raised issues of cultural shame for the girls and their families, The Guardian reports.
Ul Nasir appealed against the sentence, which he argued was unfairly long.
But this was rejected by Mr Justice Walker.
He ruled: "[The] point taken by Mr Shafi [Ul Nasir's lawyer] is that the judge had, he submitted, regarded the offending as aggravated because of the victims' ethnic and religious origin.
"This point is, with great respect to Mr Shafi, a misconception.
"In her sentencing remarks the judge observed that [one of the victims] was finding it difficult at school because her friends knew what had happened, leading to problems of shame for her.
"In relation to [the other victim]... the father had said that he and their mother were struggling and felt socially isolated because, within their particular community, it bought great shame on the whole family when things like this happened.
"He was also concerned about the future marriage prospects for his daughters.
"In this regard, Her Honour Judge Cahill was, entirely properly, having regard to the particular harm caused to the victims by this offending.
"As it happened, that harm was aggravated by the impact on the victims and their family within this particular community."
The NSPCC said the effect of sexual abuse on all children needed to be recognised.
A spokesman for the charity said: “British justice should operate on a level playing field and children need to be protected irrespective of cultural differences.
“Regardless of race, religion, or gender, every child deserves the right to be safe and protected from sexual abuse, and the courts must reflect this.
“It is vital that those who commit these hideous crimes are punished to the full limit of the law.”
