Mohammed Tahmith Ahmed

man who raped and sexually assaulted two girls when he was a child has been jailed for four years.

Mohammed Ahmed was 12 years old when he began abusing two younger girls at an address in Edinburgh.

His victims were both aged nine when he started preying on them, the High Court in Edinburgh heard.

Ahmed, now 24, had denied a series of charges during an earlier trial but was convicted of five offences involving the girls.

He was found guilty of sexually assaulting and raping one girl from when she was aged nine in December 2010.

Ahmed, from Edinburgh, was also convicted of assaulting her by punching her, grabbing her by the hair and dragging her.

He was also found guilty of sexually assaulting and raping the second girl on various occasions between 2010 and 2014.

He was further convicted of subjecting her to physical assaults during which he punched her and pulled her hair.

On one occasion he pushed her down stairs and throttled her after putting his arm around her neck to the danger of her life.

The victim was aged nine when Ahmed first assaulted her.

A judge told him at the High Court in Edinburgh that the offences were "a sustained course of serious sexual abuse of the victims".

Lord Doherty said: "The victims were significantly younger than you."

He added that it was clear from the evidence and victim impact statements the offending had significant consequences for them.

'More severe'
The judge said a background report prepared on Ahmed showed he had a difficult childhood and has suffered from mental health issues.

Lord Doherty said he had particular regard to the fact that the sexual offences were committed when Ahmed was an adolescent child.

He told him: "Had you been an adult at the time of all of these offences the sentence I would have passed would have been more severe."

The judge ordered that Ahmed should be kept under supervision for a further two-year period when he will be on licence.

The court heard Ahmed was confronted by one of his victims a few days before police became involved.

During his earlier trial Ahmed agreed with his counsel Gareth Jones KC that it was he who contacted police, and intimated he wanted to end his life because of allegations against him.

Ahmed was told he would be placed on the sex offenders register for an indefinite period following sentencing.