THE final two defendants to give evidence in the Keighley schoolgirl rape trial told the jury they had never even heard of the teenager they are accused of lining up to violate.
Faisal Khan, 27, of Buxton Street in Keighley, denies twice raping the child in front of works gates in the town's Dalton Lane when she was 13 or 14.
Khan, nicknamed Buller, asked from the witness box at Bradford Crown Court yesterday: "Who is she? I don't know her."
A former pupil at Greenhead High School in Keighley, Khan said he had been to the location in Dalton Lane where he and four other defendants are said to have lined up to rape the girl. One of his relatives had a garage there and he often visited him.
But he insisted he had never met or seen the girl.
"I did not have any sex with her at all," he said.
The last defendant to give evidence was Rohail Iqbal, 22, of Skipton Road in Beechcliffe, Keighley, who pleads not guilty to one allegation of raping the girl behind Keighley Leisure Centre.
He too denied he had ever seen or met her.
Iqbal told the jury he had never been behind the leisure centre, just attended at the building for weddings.
After the defence cases closed, prosecution barrister, Michelle Colborne QC, made her closing speech to the jury.
Barristers for the defendants will begin making their final speeches next week, before the Recorder of Bradford, Judge Roger Thomas QC, sums up the case.
Also on trial are: Yasser Kabir, 25, of Belgrave Road, Keighley, who denies four allegations of rape.
Tauqeer Hussain, 23, of Belgrave Road, Keighley, and Nazir Khan, 23, of Buxton Street, Keighley, who both plead not guilty to three allegations of rape. Israr Ali, 19, of Devonshire Street West, Keighley; Saqib Younis, 29, of Bradford Street, Lawkholme, Keighley; Bilal Ziarab, 21, of Sedgwick Close, Manningham, Bradford; Sufyan Ziarab, 22, of Kendal Mellor Court, Keighley; Hussain Sardar, 19, of Bradford Street, Lawkholme, Keighley; and Zain Ali, 20, of Buxton Street, Keighley, who deny two allegations of rape. Rohail Hussain, 18, of Hawk Street, Lawkholme, Keighley, and a 17-year-old youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, who plead not guilty to one allegation of rape. Taxi driver Mohammed Akram, 62, of Holker Street, Keighley, who denies having sex with the girl, knowing she was 14.
The trial continues.
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