Heartbroken Leeds mum's 'nightmare' after pub chef's sex attack on 13-year-old daughter

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said her daughter has since become withdrawn and distant after being preyed upon by 57-year-old Ehasan Hasib Choudhury.

He was jailed for six years at Leeds Crown Court this week, and a heart-wrenching victim impact statement was read out by prosecutor Rupert Doswell on behalf of the girl’s mother.

It read: “Mine and my daughter’s lives have changed. Nothing can prepare you for what my daughter told me. She was so upset she was shaking.

“When she told me what he had done to her I felt sick. It’s a parent’s nightmare to be told this. How can someone do this to my child? I have so many unanswered questions.

“She has taken a massive step back and hides away in her bedroom. She does not want to speak about it, she has put a wall around it. One day this will all hit her and I will have to be there to reassure her, that it’s not her fault.”

The court heard that Choudhury, a former doorman and railway worker, was employed as a chef at a pub in the Leeds area at the time when he attacked the girl. He performed a sex act on the youngster after a heavy drinking session in which he downed half pints of vodka. After she got free, he tried to persuade not to tell anyone.

The girl confessed to a friend and then her mother the next day. Choudhury, of Cromwell Heights, Burmantofts, claimed he could not remember the incident having drunk two-and-a-half pints of vodka, but forensic analysis found his DNA on the girl’s underwear.

He admitted sexual assault by penetration. He has previous convictions but no history of sexual offences. He appeared in court via video link from HMP Doncaster where he was being held on remand.

Mitigating, Geraldine Kelly said the incident had shocked those who know him, claiming they trusted him around their children. She acknowledged he had a problem with alcohol which developed after his wife died at the age of 33.

She said: “He had no idea that he behaved the way he did. It’s out of character to commit sexual offences. He is not sexually attracted to children he tells me. It was difficult got him to accept his guilt because it’s not how he knows himself to behave in drink or otherwise. It was the scientific evidence that showed him that it must have been right.”

She said that his alcohol troubles have even led him to join Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in the past but he had struggled to keep away from booze.

Judge Simon Batiste said Choudhury must serve at least two-thirds of his sentence before he is eligible for parole. Because he is of Bangladeshi origin, he is not a UK citizen and liable for deportation once he completes his sentence.

He will also sign the sex offenders register for life.