During a sentencing hearing held on Wednesday (March 5, 2025), Romauld Stefan Houphouet, aged 37, an Ivoirian national of Spital Lane, Sheffield, and Absolom Sigiyo, 42, a Zimbabwean national, of Longfellow Drive, Rotherham, were jailed for 20 years and 18 years, six months respectively.
Jurors found them guilty of a catalogue of sex offences committed against two 15-year-old girls, who were repeatedly abused by Houphouet and Sigiyo.
A third man, Jacek Brzozowski, aged 35, of Middle Avenue, Rawmarsh, Rotherham, pleaded guilty to an offence of one count of penetrative sexual activity with a child during the trial is now due to be sentenced next month (April 2025).
All three defendants were prosecuted through the National Crime Agency’s Operation Stovewood.
Operation Stovewood was launched in the wake of the Alexis Jay report, which was published in 2014 and described how at least 1,400 children in Rotherham had been subjected to grooming and abuse by gangs of men between 1997 and 2013. It also outlined how police and social workers had failed to step in.
It is the single largest law enforcement investigation into non-familial child sexual abuse in the UK.
The 30 sex offenders included in the list have been jailed for a combined total of 458 years and six months.
Speaking after Houphouet and Sigiyo were jailed, an NCA spokesperson said a total of 1,100 victims have been identified, and a number of active investigations remain ongoing.
*If you are concerned about a child and believe they are being exploited, please report it to South Yorkshire Police so they can help.
You can get in touch with them by calling 101, or going online and using the force's chat function or online portal at: https://smartcontact.southyorkshire.police.uk/
Call 999 if they are in immediate danger.
25. Gang jailed for 107 years
Top left to right: Abid Saddiq, Mohammed Amar, Mohammed Siyab, Mohammed Zameer Sadiq. Bottom left to right: Ramin Bari, Tahir Yassin, Yasser Ajaibe | Tahir Yasin, 38, of Burngreave Street, Sheffield - jailed for 13 years for eight counts of rape. Ramin Bari, 38, of of Derby Street, Sheffield - jailed for nine years for four counts of rape. Mohammed Amar, 43, of Elizabeth Way, Rotherham - jailed for 14 years plus two years on licence for two counts of indecent assault of a girl aged 11 years. Amar was found not guilty of one count of indecent assault. Yasser Ajaibe, 39, of Walter Street, Rotherham - jailed for 6 years plus one year on licence for indecent assault of a girl aged 11 years. Mohammed Zameer Sadiq, 49; of Richard Road, Rotherham - jailed for 15 years plus one year on licence for rape and sexual intercourse with a girl under 13 years. Mohammed Siyab, 45, of Stevenson Drive, Rotherham - jailed for 25 years for sexual intercourse with a girl under 13 years; two counts of rape; and trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation. Abid Saddiq, 43, formerly of Rotherham - jailed for 24 years plus one year on licence for indecent assault of a girl aged 12 years; rape of a girl aged under 13; and two counts of rape. | NCA