20-year-old Tarek Miah, who came to the UK from Bangladesh at the age of three, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for repeatedly raping a 12-year-old girl with autism and sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl.
Tarek Miah, a 20-year-old British citizen of Bangladeshi descent, was sentenced on Thursday to 15 years in prison for a series of serious sexual offences against minors. The court also imposed a three-year supervision period and an 18-year restraining order prohibiting him from contacting the victims and other underage girls. The judge emphasized that he posed a “very high and imminent risk” to children.
The incidents began in August 2023. He met his first victim – a 12-year-old girl with autism whose cognitive development was significantly below her chronological age – through social media. He contacted her, picked her up in his car, and took her to secluded locations, where he repeatedly raped her without protection. The girl is now deeply traumatized – she suffers from flashbacks, severe anxiety, is afraid to go to school, and slept on the floor by her bedroom door for months.
The second victim was only nine years old when Miah began sexually harassing her via TikTok and Snapchat. He sent her videos of himself masturbating and demanded she record her own sexual content for him.
Miah pleaded guilty to eight charges, including four counts of raping a child under 13. During the hearing, prosecutor Steven Molloy cited a probation report that clearly indicated that “[Miah’s] culture may influence his attitude towards girls.”
Despite arriving in the UK at the age of three, the man, according to the court, had not absorbed British moral values.
The perpetrator himself downplayed his actions, describing them as “typical experiments for his age,” a “silly mistake,” and “playing around.” Even while on parole, he attempted to interact with other minors.
The mothers of the injured girls described the immense suffering the children endured. The mother of an autistic 12-year-old girl said her daughter had “lost her childhood” and struggled with hallucinations and withdrawal. The mother of the 9-year-old added that her child “is not the same girl anymore” and has lost her innocence.