Abusing her which way, sexually or through the koran, or both?
Islamic teacher who sexually abused girl, 11, as he taught her the Koran spared jail because his wife doesn’t speak English
- Suleman Maknojioa, 40, squeezed girl’s chest under her prayer scarf
- Attacks took place as he gave lessons in Arabic to girl and her brothers
- Father of six convicted of five counts of sexual activity with a child
- He was handed a suspended sentence after judge told his family rely on him
By LUCY CROSSLEY
PUBLISHED: 09:06 GMT, 18 March 2014 | UPDATED: 10:39 GMT, 18 March 2014
An Islamic teacher who sexually abused a young girl as he taught her the Koran has been spared prison after a court was told he is on benefits and his wife speaks ‘very little English’.
Suleman Maknojioa, 40, repeatedly rubbed the 11-year-old’s leg and even reached underneath the long folds of her prayer headscarf to squeeze her chest whilst giving her and her two brothers private tuition in Arabic.
Maknojioa was said to have ‘favoured’ the girl and believed the touching was ‘appropriate’ and given to reassure her.
But the confused girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, found herself becoming frightened whenever lessons were due for fear of what the tutor would do to her.
He was reported to police after the child’s mother overheard her two sons, aged 13 and seven, talking about the incidents in the kitchen.
On the day he was arrested, father of six Maknojioa, a highly-respected Hafiz, was due to teach 30 children at a mosque near his home in Blackburn, Lancashire.
He was later convicted of five counts of sexual activity with a child but on Monday he was handed a 40 week custodial sentence suspended for two years after the court heard that he was now on a benefits with a family reliant on him.
Preston Crown Court was told Maknojioa had been engaged by the children’s parents in 2012 to teach their children about the Islamic faith, with lessons taking place up to three times a week at their home in Lancashire.
Problems began in September of that year after the girl and her two brothers started their Koran tuition in Arabic in their living room. The court hard she was more interested and better at her lessons than her brothers, who were often told off.
The court heard that during the lessons Maknojioa began touching the girl’s arms and head, then moved to the legs, feet and chest and her thigh. The girl claimed that touching had typically occurred as she prayed; kneeling or cross legged while reading from the Koran.
‘I did not want it, but I was too afraid to say something,’ she told the jury. ‘He would put his hand under my head scarf on my chest and he would squeeze.
