November 2007 Mum’s warning after predator’s campaign A MOTHER urged parents to monitor their children’s computer and mobile phone use after her daughter was ‘groomed’ via text messages and e-mails then lured to a house for sex. Mubarak Ssali (pictured), a 22-year-old Ugandan who has been living in Britain for six years, ‘bombarded’ the 14-year-old girl with messages for two months before he had sex with her. The victim’s mother says the teenager was left ‘humiliated, shocked and very frightened’. Ssali was jailed for two and a half years after pleading guilty at Manchester Crown Court to sexual grooming and unlawful sexual activity with a girl under 16. He will remain on the sex offenders’ register for an indefinite period. The court heard that Ssali met the girl, now 15, by chance in Manchester in November 2006. She knew him only as ‘Lucky’. The girl’s mother was in court as Neil Fryman, prosecuting, told how her daughter had `bumped into’ Ssali in a chance meeting on the street in Manchester in November 2006. They exchanged contact details but did not meet again until the date of the offence, in January. In the meantime, he sent texts and e-mails and called her on her mobile phone. The content of the text messages proved that she was still at school, the court heard. Speaking outside court, the girl’s mother said Ssali had preyed on her daughter’s ‘quiet, shy and private’ qualities. “She is not streetwise and he knew it. That is why he targeted her. It has left her feeling very vulnerable.” She said she noticed a change in her daughter’s behaviour, then found messages and confronted her. “The mother, who said the ‘last 11 months have been hell’, urged parents to keep a close eye on their children’s activities. “It is difficult to protect children these days,” she said. “I would encourage an open dialogue between children and parents when it comes to text and e-mail messages. “Parents should not stand back and watch. There should be monitoring.” The court was told that Ssali felt ‘isolated and alone’ and never tried to hide his true identity. The nature of the texts revealed ‘the beginning of a genuine relationship’ and the texts were not ‘overtly sexual’ in nature, said Farrhat Arshad, defending.