[A] TEENAGE girl allegedly “gang-raped” by four schoolboys was “distraught, in shock, in tears” moments afterwards, jurors were told.
Carlisle Crown Court heard a 999 call was made by friends fearing the “very drunk” 15-year-old female had gone missing “with four lads” in Workington at around 7pm on January 3.
Four boys, all teenagers aged under 16, are on trial. They each deny two rape allegations, and further deny a charge alleging an additional sexual assault.
The prosecution alleges they took part in a “pack” sex attack in a muddy town field. However, the boys claim the girl consented to sexual activity that took place.
Today in court, jurors watched the teenager who made the 999 call tell police in an interview how he and three other males went looking for the girl in darkness. They found her in the field.
“She just had a top on and, like, clothes ripped, and she was crying,” the teen said in a police interview played to jurors. “(She) looked like she was going to have a mental breakdown.”
He and others went “hunting” for those apparently responsible. “We were screaming, shouting, where you at?” he said. “We were in shock. I didn’t know what to do. It was just terrible.”
Eye witnesses reported seeing the girl with “mud-spattered” trousers and “hysterical”. A jogger later told police she heard “the sound of screaming” in the area at around 7-15pm. “I just presumed it was kids messing about,” she said.
Another friend of the girl told police she had, before going off with the boys, “lifted her shirt up to her stomach” in the street. The girl had, during earlier cross-examination, denied doing this.
The trial continues.