Girls were plied with drugs and raped - prosecutor

Six men are on trial at Newcastle Crown Court

A gang of men plied girls with alcohol and cocaine before raping and sexually assaulting them, a trial has been told.

The group targeted six girls aged between 13 and 16 in Gateshead between 2015 and 2019, with some of the alleged victims passed around between men and abused, prosecutors told Newcastle Crown Court.

Six men, who are now aged between 22 and 44 and are assisted in court by Romanian and Albanian interpreters, deny offences including rape, sexual assault and blackmail.

Opening the trial to jurors, prosecutor Anne Richardson said it was a case of "sexual exploitation" with the men abusing "immature and vulnerable" girls.

She said some of the girls were "seeking to please" to get attention and those traits were "exploited" by the defendants, with the girls "bought or given" alcohol, drugs and cigarettes "in exchange for sexual favours".

'A lot of pain'

Ms Richardson said: "Some of these girls were expected and encouraged to engage in sexual activities, not because they wanted so to do, or through their own free and unencumbered will, but because they were beholden and, in some cases, in thrall to these men."

One of the girls, who was 14 or 15 at the time, became addicted to cocaine and was "passed around" by some of the men while under the influence and "totally incapable of giving consent", Ms Richardson said.

The girl was "under the control" of members of the group and "was manipulated into a position where she simply acquiesced, rather than gave her full and free consent" to sexual acts, the prosecutor said.

On one occasion she was given drugs in a flat and "raped by several men", causing "a lot of pain", Ms Richardson said, with further abuse happening "on a regular basis" including times when she was so drunk she had to be held up as she was violated.

All six defendants deny offences relating to the girl.

Another of the girls was threatened that a picture of her in her bra would be shown to her family if she did not comply with sexual demands, the court heard.

The offences took place at locations around Gateshead including in Saltwell Park, Ms Richardson said.

'Set emotion aside'

Judge Tim Gittins told jurors cases involving such sexual allegations, "sometimes called child grooming", were "in the spotlight at the moment" but it was "vital" they "concentrate on the evidence in court".

The judge said they must set aside all emotions and "preconceived notions" and reach verdicts "objectively and dispassionately" based on an assessment of the evidence they heard.

The defendants are all from Gateshead and the allegations against them are:

• Codrin Dura, 26, in relation to two girls, denies eight counts of rape, three counts of sexual activity with a child, attempted rape, sexual assault, blackmail, arranging the commission of a child sex offence and supplying a class A drug

• Leonard Paun, 23, in relation to two girls, denies five counts of rape, sexual activity with a child, two counts of arranging the commission of a child sex offence, supplying Class A drugs, sexual assault and distributing indecent photographs of a child

• Ionut Mihai, 28, denies three counts of rape in relation to one girl

• Bogdan Gugiuman, 44, denies four counts of rape and one of supplying a Class A drug in relation to one girl

• Klaudio Aleksiu, 28, denies two counts of rape and supplying a Class A drug in relation to one girl

• Stefan Ciuraru, 22, in relation to five girls, denies four counts of sexual assault, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and sexual activity with a child

The trial, which is estimated to last up to six weeks, continues.