A PIZZA shop worker accused of raping teenage girls and farming them out for sexual abuse claimed he was gay when interviewed by police, a court heard.

Amin Kaveh, 35, of The Renown, Shoebury, is standing trial at Chelmsford Crown Court along with four other Iranian men charged with the rape and sexual abuse of three female victims.

The court heard how Kaveh refused to answer most questions during three interviews at Southend and Chelmsford police stations in April and May last year, giving mainly “no comment” replies.

But when asked by Det Sgt Lopez about his “sexual preference” and whether he liked men, he said: “Yeah, I’m gay.”

In a statement prepared by his solicitor he added: “I didn’t supply (the victim) any mephedrone. I didn’t know her.

“I didn’t take her or her friends to Meadgate Terrace at any time. I have never sexually assaulted her or anyone.”

Kaveh is alleged to have raped one young woman and forced her to have sex with dozens of Iranian men in Essex and East London.

Another alleged victim was a 16-year-old girl from Southend, who he also forced into prostitution.

The court heard a police interview with co-defendant Mehdi Zare, 32, of Lupin Drive, Chelmsford, in which he also denied any wrongdoing.

Zare was asked by police whether he had taken a 13-year-old girl to a “posh house” in East Finchley, or addresses in Meadgate Terrace, Chelmsford, Duffields, Great Baddow, or a “crack house” in George Street, Chelmsford, to have sex with Iranian men.

He denied all the accusations but admitted that his cousin, convicted drug dealer Asadolah Zare, lived at the Meadgate Terrace address.

Zare also denied having sex with the girl in the loft of CM Pizza in Duke Street, Chelmsford, which was owned by his brother, Hadi.

He said: “That time she was talking about, it wasn’t even people were sleeping there.”

Asked whether he had taken the girl to the Saracen’s Head Hotel in Chelmsford High Street for sex because he was friends with the Iranian manager, he said: “I know it’s there, but it’s got cameras.”

Kaveh is charged with three counts of supplying a controlled drug to another; one count of assault by penetration; three counts of rape; one count of causing or inciting prostitution for gain; and one count of controlling prostitution for gain.

Zare is charged with three counts of sexual activity with a child; one count of arranging or facilitating sexual exploitation of a child; and three counts of supplying a controlled drug to another.

Another man, Mohammed Rostami, 37, of The Renown, Shoebury, is charged with two counts of sexual activity with a child; one count of causing or inciting sexual exploitation of a child; one count of rape; and three counts of supplying a controlled drug to another.

Mohammed Zarei, 32, a taxi driver, of Delamere Road, Chelmsford, is charged with one count of rape.

Mehdi Khashi, 32, a taxi driver, of Rookes Crescent, Chelmsford, is also charged with one count of rape.

The court was read a transcript of Khashi’s police interview, in which he described how he came to know the other men in the dock.

He said many Iranians in Chelmsford were from the town of Shiraz, he knew Hadi Zare from his home country and got to know Mehdi Zare and Rostami because he frequented the pizza shops in Duke Street.

Denying the rape allegation, he said: “It’s a lie given by that girl. I was a new arrival in this country. She has used my honesty. She got some money out of me and left.”

The trial continues.