Girl, eight, ‘raped by boys, 10’

An eight-year-old girl was raped by two 10-year-old boys while out playing with her younger sister near her home in west London, the Old Bailey has heard.

The girl, who was allegedly raped in a field, later told her mother what had happened, jurors heard.

The boys, who cannot be identified because of their age, each deny two charges of rape and two charges of attempted rape of a child under 13.

The offences are alleged to have happened in October 2009.

The alleged rape happened near to where all the children – who knew each other – lived, the court heard.

The boys, who are now aged 10 and 11, are among the youngest to be charged with rape in the UK.

The jury was told that the court’s sitting hours had been shortened and other steps would be taken because the defendants were so young.

The judge, Mr Justice Saunders, sat where the court clerk normally sits so he was on the same level as the boys.

Rosina Cottage, prosecuting, told the court the mother went looking for the girl after her younger sister, who she had been playing with, returned home without her.

‘Secluded spot’

Miss Cottage told the court: "This case concerns rape by two boys still at primary school of a girl even younger than them.

"Together they took her to different locations near where they lived in order to find a sufficiently secluded spot to assault her.

"The events leading to the alleged rapes all took place in and around a block of flats and they ended in a field."

Miss Cottage said when the victim’s mother and younger sister went to fetch her, they bumped into the mother of the younger defendant and a five-year-old playmate.

When the boy’s mother asked the little boy where her son was "he said that he was in a nearby field and that he was with (the girl) and that he was hurting her", said Miss Cottage.

He pointed over to the field and the women went to find the children. The girl’s mother went into the field but could not locate her.

When she did find her, the woman "could see things were not right with her daughter", Miss Cottage said.

She told the court the mother later asked the girl what was wrong and the girl told her mother that the boys had taken her to the block of flats where they had moved the bins in a bin shed so that she could not get out.

Miss Cottage added: "When a car pulled up the boys had taken her out of the bin shed and taken her to the fields.

"She told them to leave her alone."

The boys then assaulted her, the court heard.

Miss Cottage said the girl’s mother spotted the older boy and asked what happened but he replied "nothing".

The younger boy joined them and, before anything was asked, allegedly said: "I didn’t touch her."

The court was told the older boy then added: "It wasn’t me. It was (the other boy)."

The girl was then taken to hospital because she was complaining of pains in her stomach, the court heard.

She gave evidence via videolink from another room of the court and told how she was taken to the bin shed before being taken to the field.

In a second video interview, the girl said one of the boys had thrown her scooter into a bush and told her she would not get it back unless she did what they said.

The trial continues.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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