'FAMILY RAPED ME FOR YEARS' Terrified girl abused from five and gave birth to relative's baby at 14, court told 'Woman also believed mother knew of rapes'.

Byline: Liz Keen

A SCHOOLGIRL gave birth to a baby after being sexually abused at home from the age of five, a court has heard.

The 14-year-old girl was already seven months pregnant when she first saw a doctor and she was shut in a wardrobe when guests came to the family home so they would not see her condition, jurors were told.

When she gave birth to a baby boy, her parents told friends and neighbours the infant was theirs, before sending their daughter to India for an arranged marriage, prosecutor Marion Lewis told a jury at Cardiff Crown Court.

A step-uncle 28 years older than her was later identified as the baby's father but not before she had been abused and raped by him and two other family members at various addresses in Cardiff for years, it is alleged.

Ms Lewis said: "She went to South Wales Police in April 2008 and told them she had been repeatedly abused from the age of five up to 22."

She alleged her nightmare began when, as a terrified five year old, she was frequently locked in a cellar without food or water, at the family home in Victoria Park, Cardiff, and beaten with a stick by her mother.

She said the sexual abuse started when her uncle made her perform a sex act on him as he lay on the living room sofa.

Ms Lewis told the court: "He said if she told her mother, he would beat her up and after that it happened whenever the opportunity arose - so often she can't say how many times. "It stopped when her grandfather arrived and took her back to India but her mother insisted she return and this time, in a new house they had moved into in another part of Cardiff,herstep-uncle firsthadsexwith her, while holding a hand over her mouth." The woman alleges she was later raped and abused by him on an almost daily basis, although she pleaded with him to stop. "She was frightened and also believedher mother knewwhatwas going on," Ms Lewis told the jurors. "When, aged 14 and a pupil at a Cardiff school, her stomach was expanding and a scan revealed she was seven months pregnant, her mother beat her all over her body, apart from her face, with a curtain pole. "She was hidden, sometimes in a wardrobe, and visitors were told she had gone back to India. "She was terrified and didn't know how to explain about her step-uncle - until she was in labour - when she named him andwas called a liar by her mother.

"At 18, she was married in India and didn't want to return to theUK but her husband insisted she did, so he could get a visa. "Back in Cardiff, the abuse resumed and her husband later divorced her." The prosecution alleges it was at that time thewoman's step-unclewas joined by her step-father and a step-cousin in raping her. When she eventually left the family home and went to share a house with another youngwoman, theywould come aroundwhentheyknewshewasathome alone, the alleged victim told police. Ms Lewis said: "They said theywould kick the door down if she didn't allow them in and they would force her to have sex with them. All were sober at the time and none took precautions." The three men, now aged 55, 50 and 27, who cannot be identified to protect the woman's identity, between them deny a total of 22 charges of rape and indecency. (Proceeding)