Teenage Gang Accused of Raping Woman in Newark Alleyway After Chance Meeting
A gang of teenage boys allegedly raped a young woman in a town centre alleyway just minutes after encountering her as she sat on a nearby bench, a court heard today. The four youths targeted their alleged victim after her phone battery died following a visit to her boyfriend's home, jurors were informed.
Prosecution Details the Alleged Attack
Prosecutor Samuel Skinner KC stated the boys, two aged 15 and two aged 17 at the time, 'persuaded' the 18-year-old woman to walk down a dark passage with them. The woman, trusting they were taking her somewhere to have a drink, complied. However, once in the secluded spot, it was claimed three of them 'took it in turns to have sex with her against her will' despite her pleas to stop.
The hearing was told that after the alleged incident, the 'distraught' woman walked home 'in an absolute state' with cuts and bruises on her knees and other parts of her body. She later reported the matter to police and identified one of the alleged rapists via social media.
Defendants and Legal Proceedings
Three of the accused – two now aged 18 and one 16 – deny rape, while the fourth, now 16, denies aiding and abetting two of his co-accused. None can be named for legal reasons. In opening the case, Mr Skinner KC told the jury the alleged incident occurred in Newark, Nottinghamshire, three days after Christmas in 2023.
Jurors heard the woman was sitting on a bench outside Hollywood Nails when the defendants met her. Mr Skinner explained she had visited her boyfriend that day and travelled to Newark by train afterwards. Feeling 'unhappy', she stopped to sit alone on the bench for a few minutes to have a drink.
Details of the Alleged Assault
'Her phone battery had run out,' Mr Skinner told Nottingham Crown Court. 'Passers-by noticed her and asked if she was alright. But then a group of male teenagers approached her, including some of these defendants, and persuaded her to go to a dark alley with them. She trusted that they were taking her somewhere to have some more to drink. But instead, several of these teenagers had sex with her in that alley against her will.'
Mr Skinner described how the defendants 'took it in turns' as the woman was attacked on 'dirty ground next to some wheelie bins'. He added: 'Whilst they did what they wanted she said 'no', and cried. Other teenaged males watched, encouraging the others and making it difficult for her to escape. One took videos on his mobile phone, but I make it clear they do not show the events clearly at all. Not all of the teenagers who were there in that alley were identified. But these defendants were.'
He noted the defendants and the group of bystanders knew each other, but the victim did not know any of them.
Sequence of Events and Evidence
Mr Skinner detailed how the first boy alleged to have raped the woman has never been identified. The prosecutor said she kissed him in the alley but he 'didn't listen' when she asked him not to go further. The court heard he then had sex with her while others watched, telling them, 'Have fun boys' once finished.
One of the accused 17-year-olds subsequently raped the woman, Mr Skinner added, before one of the two 15-year-old defendants forced her to perform a sex act upon him. This was followed by the second 17-year-old, it was alleged, who attacked in another secluded area further down the alleyway after the woman asked him to walk her home, as he initially appeared 'kind'.
Mr Skinner claimed the final defendant, aged 15 at the time, did not have physical contact with the woman but surrounded her while the others did and encouraged them. He added the boy denied being present during the incident, but police later found videos on his phone that he had taken of it, which were shown to jurors.
Defence Claims and Court Arrangements
The court heard the boys gave their alleged victim false names to avoid detection, but all later claimed after arrest that she had consented to sexual activity. Mr Skinner said he wanted to 'remind' jurors the victim was 'a female teenager that they had met just minutes beforehand, and whose name they did not know'.
Despite two defendants now being 18, they sat on the back row of the court rather than in the glass-fronted dock alongside their co-accused. Judge Stuart Rafferty KC told jurors at the start: 'They were all children at the time the offences alleged against them took place. We do not put children in glass boxes. We treat them better than that.'
Parents of the youths listened to details of the evidence from the public gallery. The trial, expected to last three weeks, continues.
