Shop owner raped girl, 15, after supplying her with alcohol and vapes

A shop owner who supplied an underage girl with drink and vapes and sexually assaulted and raped her at his business premises has been jailed for nine years.

Asief Anwar molested the 15-year-old victim, subjected her to sexual comments, and made inappropriate remarks to two other children.

A judge told Anwar, 43, at the High Court in Edinburgh: “The evidence shows you were grooming all three of them at different times.”

Lord Young said that the vulnerable teenager who was raped had described the effects of the offending on her, which included suffering flashbacks.

The judge acknowledged that Anwar was “effectively a first offender” and suffered from a serious health condition.

But he said Anwar was assessed as posing a medium risk of sexual reoffending, and he decided it was necessary to impose an extended sentence to protect young women on his release from custody.

In addition to the nine-year jail term, the judge ordered that Anwar should be under supervision in the community for a further two years, when he will be on licence and can be returned to prison if he breaches the conditions.

Anwar, of Glasgow, had denied a series of charges at an earlier trial but was convicted of four offences, which all took place at shop premises in a Stirlingshire village.

Between July and December 2021, he sexually assaulted and raped his first victim.

Anwar also made sexualised and threatening comments to the teenager and supplied her with drink, cigarettes and vaping devices during the same period.

Between May and July in 2022, he also made threatening and inappropriate remarks to another 15-year-old girl at the shop and supplied her with vapes

A 14-year-old was also supplied with vapes by him at the shop and was subjected to inappropriate comments in August and September 2022. He would comment on the physical appearance of the underage girls.

Defence counsel Frances Connor told the court: “He maintains his position, as he has always done, that he did not commit these offences.”

She said the married man suffered a heart attack last year and was on medication.

Anwar was placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely, and non harassment orders were made prohibiting him from contacting or attempting to contact victims.