A FATHER accused of raping an underage girl said he 'sympathises' with her but that she has got the wrong man.

Afzal Mohammed addressed the jury at Oxford Crown Court today, to deny his alleged role in a child grooming plot in Oxford.

The 42-year-old, of Randolph Street in Oxford, is accused of a single count of rape, while three other co-defendants are accused of a catalogue of other sex crimes against young girls.

Speaking from the witness box, he said: "I sympathise for her, I feel for the woman [if she was raped].

"Someone needs to be brought to justice, but I've come to prove my innocence to the court.

"I can categorically say 100 per cent, it's not me."

Also accused are Naim Khan, 41, of no fixed abode, Mohammed Nazir, 44, of Wood Farm Road, Oxford, and Raheem Ahmed, 42, of no fixed abode, who deny a string of charges including rape and indecent assault.

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Prosecutors claim the offences involved three girls, aged between 13 and 15 two decades ago.

Mohammed is accused of raping a girl at a flat in East Oxford, off Cowley Road.

He said he had never been inside the flat and, asked if he had met the alleged victim, said: “Never in my life.”

He told jurors he was ‘born and bred’ in Cowley and described himself as a ‘loud, outspoken person’ who is ‘well-known’ in the area.

The girl said the man who allegedly raped her was wearing a baseball cap, Armani tracksuit and spoke with an Asian accent.

Mohammed said he has ‘never worn a baseball cap’ nor owned an Armani tracksuit, and speaks with a ‘normal English accent’ except when speaking Punjabi with his mother.

At the time of the alleged rape, Mohammed was married and worked as a pizza delivery man at Domino's.

He told the court: "I got married in '95 or '96 and from then I was a father and a married man."

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The alleged victim said she was raped in the bathroom while her friend slept on the sofa in the same flat, while another man held her face, and afterwards the pair said to her 'nice one love'.

Also taking to the box today to protest his innocence was Nazir, who is accused of numerous counts of rape and indecent assault.

Jurors heard Nazir has a criminal record, including for burglary and grievous bodily harm.

He told the court: "My offending mainly related to my [drug] addiction - I’ve put that behind me."

Nazir said he got clean of drugs while in Pakistan, and returned to the UK in 2000.

He said it was in about 2005 or 2006, around about the time that his mother died, that he relapsed again.

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When the prosecution accused him of ‘trying to give the jury a false impression’, he responded: “I’ve been as honest as I possibly can be. I’m not trying to give off any impression, I’m just giving the truth.”

Responding to allegations that he would ‘hang around’ with girls around Cowley Road and ‘pimped’ a girl out to men, he said: “That’s absolutely not true."

When the prosecution said he went back to his old group of friends in the Leopold Street area, upon his return from Pakistan, he said: “I stayed away from my old mates.

“I steered clear of anything that would lead me back down the road to drugs.”

The prosecution alleged it was there that he had ‘easy sexual access to vulnerable young girls’, to which he responded: “That’s untrue.”

The trial continues, but will not sit next week.