A Sudanese man who snatched a five-year-old girl from the street before sexually assaulting her inside his home has been jailed for 11 years.
Mohammed Abdulraziq, 32, grabbed the child while she was playing outside and took her into his terraced house.
The girl was rescued after her mother heard her crying from inside the property and raised the alarm.
Two men forced their way into the house and restrained Abdulraziq until police arrived.
When rescuers reached her, the girl’s cycling shorts had been pulled down to her ankles, the court was told.
Abdulraziq’s lower clothing was also around his ankles, and he was positioned bent over the child near a bed.
A jury at Birmingham Crown Court convicted him of false imprisonment with intent to commit a sexual offence, sexual assault and assault.
On March 30, 2025, the victim was playing outside while her mother chatted with a neighbour.
Mohammed Abdulraziq, 32, grabbed the child while she was playing outside
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GETTY
Abdulraziq approached and spoke to the mother while “clearly” intoxicated on illegal substances, according to sentencing judge Kerry Maylin.
Jurors were told the Sudanese national had been drinking beer and smoking a synthetic cannabis substance prior to the incident.
Judge Maylin told the court he made “sexualised comments” towards the girl’s mother.
She said: “They were disturbing but she quite properly ignored the comments but she was sufficiently concerned to go down the road and close her own front door.
The Sudanese national was convicted at Birmingham Crown Court
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PA“She then returned to speak to her neighbour. She kept a close eye on her daughter throughout.”
However, in the brief moment the mother glanced away for fewer than 10 seconds, Abdulraziq seized her daughter.
The mother and her friend immediately began hunting for the child, checking a nearby park and a corner shop.
Upon returning to the street, the mother recognised her daughter’s cries coming from inside a house.
Two men restrained Abdulraziq until West Midlands Police officers arrived
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PAJudge Maylin described the victim as a “little girl happily playing in the street”.
She added: “While you cannot be seen on the footage I am sure you encouraged the girl to enter your home and took her to your bedroom and the door was locked. It is perhaps fortunate that your room overlooked the street.”
The victim’s mother said in her impact statement that both she and her daughter had suffered “trauma” from the ordeal.
The child’s “cries of distress and helplessness” would “haunt her” permanently, the judge relayed.
The court also heard that the victim had transformed from a “happy, confident child into one with complex behavioural needs”.
Detective Sergeant Nicky Simms, from West Midlands Police, said: “Abdulraziq was a predatory individual who took a young girl off the street and into his house. Fortunately, incidents of this nature are rare.
“I must praise the courage of the girl and her mother in what has been a very sensitive investigation.”