London: An Islamic studies teacher of Bangladeshi-origin found guilty of raping a 14-year-old pupil has been jailed for 19 years by a court.
Mohammed Islam, 31, started molesting the girl when she was just nine years old in 2010 before he raped her and made her pregnant in July last year, Snaresbrook Crown Court in north-east London was told on Monday.
The girl went to a community centre in London to study the Quran from Islam when the incidents started. Last year when she fell pregnant she decided to delay her abortion long enough to prove Islam was the father of the child through a DNA test.
"A profile was obtained that was identical to this defendant.. He was clearly the father of that foetus," said Prosecuting lawyer Robert Brown.
Islam pleaded guilty to rape and sexual activity with a child after initially claiming his victim had proposed sex. He admitted to the charges on the first day of the trial when she turned up to testify against him, the 'Sun' reported. "What Mohammed has done to my daughter has broken me. In our religion she is no longer considered a virgin and is therefore unable or unlikely to get married to have a family," the girl's father said in a statement.
"I am devastated. I am so angry," he said. Islam, from Bethnal Green in east London, admitted rape, four counts of sexually assaulting a child and two of sexual activity with a child.
He was handed a 19-year jail sentence along with two concurrent sentences of five and two and a half years for four counts of sexual assault and sexual activity with a child.
Islam was also put on the sex offenders' register and given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and notification.
"You were respected as a religious man teaching young children the Quran.. I only hope and pray for her that this abuse will not have a long term effect on her," Judge Sarah Paneth told Islam.
"I do not accept that a nine-year old child could possibly have instigated any sexual activity with you. I do not accept that she could in any sense encourage you," the judge said.
