Grooming gang accused 'did not know girl's age'

Six men are on trial at Newcastle Crown Court

A man accused of raping a 14-year-old girl as part of a grooming gang has told jurors he did not know how old she was and never encouraged her to have sex with others.

Leonard Paun was 16 or 17 when he met the girl and he believed they were in an "on-off" consensual sexual relationship, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

The now 23-year-old is one of six men who have denied offences against six girls, aged between 13 and 16, in Gateshead between 2015 and 2019.

Mr Paun, who moved to the UK from Romania in 2011 and has the right to remain and work, said he "loved" the girl and had not known she was seeing other men.

He said he first met the girl in Saltwell Park while he was playing football with his friends and believed her to be about 17, adding she never told him her age.

He told jurors they were "getting along perfectly fine" and had an "on-off" relationship, with him considering them to be boyfriend and girlfriend.

Sex work claims

When asked by his barrister Glenn Gatland if the girl ever discussed having sex, Mr Paun said: "Yes, she said she just wanted to jump on and do it."

Mr Paun said they had sex a number of times at his home and it was always consensual, with the couple the only ones present.

The girl previously told the court Mr Paun had raped her in a car park and he had taken her to flat for her to have sex with other men.

When asked if any of that had happened, Mr Paun replied: "No."

Mr Gatland asked if Mr Paun had ever facilitated or encouraged the girl to have sex with other men, to which Mr Paun replied: "No I did not."

The girl also alleged Mr Paun suggested sending her to Romania to do sex work, which Mr Paun denied.

"I don't have enough money to go to Ryton, never mind Romania," Mr Paun told jurors.

'Scared of police'

He said the girl would drink alcohol and get "very high on cocaine", but when he told her to stop she said it was "her life and can she do what she wants".

He said he started to suspect she was seeing other men, including his co-accused Codrin Dura, but he "loved" her and "wanted to ignore" the possibility of her being with others.

Mr Dura, who is accused of giving the girl drugs and raping her, previously told jurors "it never happened".

Mr Paun was asked why he told police the two only had sex once during a two to three-week relationship, which was at odds with what he was telling jurors.

He said that was his first interaction with the police and he was "very scared" and "fearful" with "not knowing what was going to happen".

Mr Paun said the girl sent him photographs and videos of herself even after she had reported him to police and he had been arrested.

He also said the girl apologised to him for everything she put him through and claimed "words had been put in her mouth" by others.

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

• Codrin Dura, 27, 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 continues.