Two boys have been convicted of attempted sexual assault of an eight-year-old girl, even though she admitted in court that she lied about her ordeal
Two boys have been convicted of attempted sexual assault of an eight-year-old girl, even though she admitted in court that she lied about her ordeal
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| Losing their innocence: A court sketch shows the two boys facing a TV screen as the eight-year-old girl gave evidence |
They were both aged 10 last October when an eight-year-old girl complained to her mother that she had been assaulted.
The youngsters had been playing together in Hayes, west London, when the girl said she was taken into a block of flats where her ordeal began.
The boys were each found guilty of two charges of attempted rape, but both were cleared of two alternative offences of rape.
They had denied assaulting the girl and their lawyers claimed they were just being naughty or playing a game.
Girl not truthful
But the judge Justice Saunders refused their pleas to throw the case out after the girl admitted she had not been truthful about some of her evidence. He said it was the jury's job to decide if the witness could be trusted.
And he added that the girl had been consistent in what she told adults, including police and doctors, soon after the incident.
The girl's police video interview was played to the court and then she was questioned by lawyers through a video link to an ante-room.
Rosina Cottage, prosecuting, told the court that the boys approached the girl when she was playing with a friend. She said, "Together they took her to different locations near where they lived in order to find a sufficiently secluded spot to assault her."
The girl was assaulted in a block of flats, a bin shed and a field.
The girl's mother told the court she had found her with the boys near a field after another child said the boys were hurting her. "She said (the boys) have been doing sex with me," said the mother.
In her police video interview, the girl said, "The boys pulled their pants down and showed me their willies. Then they pulled my pants down. Then they put me into the lift and then they done it again."
Guilty verdicts were returned and both boys were bailed pending reports which will take eight weeks to prepare.
Both boys were ordered to register as sex offenders. But the judge said, "I am not quite sure how it applies to children of this age."
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