A Romanian grooming gang led by a “winking, smirking pimp” have been handed lengthy prison sentences totalling 74 years for raping and sexually abusing 10 women across multiple flats in Dundee.
The four men and one woman plied their victims, aged between 16 and 30, with Class A drugs and alcohol at various properties between 2021 and 2022 before subjecting them to horrific sexual violence.
Ringleader Marian Cumpanasoiu, 38, along with Remus Stan, 35, Cristian Urlateanu, 41, Catalin Dobre, 45, and Alexandra Bugonea, 35, were previously convicted of 30 charges following a six-week trial at the High Court in Glasgow in January.
Cumpanasoiu was sentenced to 24 years in prison, Urlateanu to 20 years, Stan to 12 years, Dobre to 10 years and Bugonea to eight years, in what has been described as “Scotland’s Rochdale” case.
Judge Lord Scott told the gang they had deliberately targeted and exacerbated the vulnerability of young women already struggling with personal difficulties.
“I commend the women for taking back the control of their lives to the extent they have been able to do that,” he added.
Likely Deportation After Sentences
The judge stated it would be a matter for the Home Office but it was likely the gang would be deported to Romania upon completion of their prison sentences.
Three gang members, Urlateanu, Dobre and Bugonea, fled the country whilst awaiting trial but were traced and extradited back to Scotland from Belgium and the Czech Republic for their trial last December.
Jurors in the six-week trial heard harrowing testimony about how the gang systematically preyed on the women, most of whom were already troubled by personal issues including addiction, poverty and previous trauma.
Ringleader Convicted of Ten Rapes
Cumpanasoiu, described in court as a “winking, smirking pimp” who behaved with a “predatory nature” towards females, was found guilty of 10 charges of rape involving seven different victims.
Urlateanu was convicted of six rape charges, whilst Stan was found guilty of four rapes and Dobre convicted of two rapes.
Cumpanasoiu was also convicted of a charge under the Human Trafficking Act for forcing a woman into prostitution, as well as two charges of brothel-keeping at properties across Dundee.
Alexandra Bugonea, who worked as a prostitute and admitted hosting “sex parties” at her flat which she described as having a “fun atmosphere”, was convicted of one rape and illegal sexual activity with another woman.
Sold ‘Pipe Dream’ of Easy Money
The trial heard how a 16-year-old Scottish girl was sold a “pipe dream” about how she could make “lots of money” from selling her body before being trafficked into prostitution.
Prosecutor Lisa Gillespie KC emphasised that human trafficking does not require victims to “cross international borders”, meaning the exploitation of British women within Scotland constituted trafficking under the law.
Cumpanasoiu became furious when the teenager failed to earn enough money, with a video discovered on his phone showing her climbing a tree as he threatened: “Because you do not make money, you stay all day in the tree.”
Both Cumpanasoiu and Stan subsequently raped the vulnerable teenager, adding further trauma to her exploitation.
Gang Rape and Drug Addition
Another victim, in her late teens at the time of her ordeal, was raped by Urlateanu in his flat and told police she was kept there for days against her will.
Urlateanu, Stan and Dobre also gang-raped one woman after she was given a substance that made her feel unwell at what the gang described as a “party” in one of their Dundee flats.
Detective Inspector Scott Carswell, who led the investigation, explained how the gang deliberately got women addicted to crack cocaine to control them.
“The gang plied the women with alcohol and free Class A drugs at parties before coercing them into sexual activity, which a lot of them didn’t want to do,” he told reporters. “But as things progressed, they were so addicted to the drugs that they knew the only way they could get the drugs was to perform the sexual acts.”
DI Carswell branded the offenders “deplorable” and said they showed no concern for the devastating impact their actions had on victims’ lives.
Victims Believed They Were Girlfriends
Many of the victims identified during the investigation believed they were the girlfriends of the men involved and did not initially realise they were being “groomed and used” by an organised criminal network.
One victim described Cumpanasoiu as “absolutely relentless” in his predatory behaviour, whilst another was left feeling “disgusted” by his treatment of her.
There were said to be so many young women “passing through” the gang’s various properties that members struggled to remember who they all were, treating victims as interchangeable commodities.
Victims would be plied with whisky and crack cocaine as well as being forced to take part in sleazy “sex games” orchestrated by gang members.
Operation Recloir Investigation
The group were arrested and charged as part of Operation Recloir, which was launched by Police Scotland in late 2021 after receiving intelligence suggesting human trafficking and sexual exploitation was ongoing within Dundee.
DI Carswell said the inquiry initially focused on brothel-keeping in Dundee and the suspected trafficking of Romanian females into the country.
However, into the summer of 2022 we started to receive information that the crime group were targeting vulnerable Dundee females, and it looked like they were grooming them and coercing them with gifts of free drugs and other things until it moved on to the victims having to get involved in sexual activity to get the free drugs,” he explained.
Police Scotland provided all 10 female victims with access to support agencies following their ordeal, with long-term safeguarding work continuing.
Powerful Victim Impact Statements
Judge Lord Scott revealed he had read “powerful and eloquent” victim impact statements from several of the women, which detailed the lasting psychological damage caused by their abuse.
Prosecutors have moved for Trafficking and Exploitation Prevention Orders to be imposed on Cumpanasoiu and Stan, which would effectively ban them from a range of activities and impose other restrictions even after their eventual release from prison.
The case sparked calls for a public inquiry into grooming gangs in Scotland, with opposition politicians drawing comparisons to the notorious Rochdale grooming scandal in England where predominantly Pakistani men sexually exploited dozens of white British girls.
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay called for the Scottish government to give grooming gang victims “the voice, the inquiry and the justice that they truly deserve” during First Minister’s Questions following the convictions.
The sentencing brings to a close one of Scotland’s most serious organised sexual exploitation cases, though some victims’ advocates argue more needs to be done to identify and prosecute similar networks operating across the country.
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