Girl 'made to have sex with men in park'

One of the accusers says she was 14 when she was first approached by one of the accused in Saltwell Park

This article contains details some people may find distressing.

A teenage girl was made to have sex with multiple men in a park, a grooming trial has heard.

The girl, who told police she was repeatedly sexually abused by a gang of men while aged 14 and 15, said she felt like she had "no say" and people had "taken advantage" of her problems, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

In police interviews shown to jurors, the girl said she was 14 when she was first approached in Saltwell Park, Gateshead, by Leonard Paun, then aged about 17 and now aged 23.

He is one of six men, who are being assisted in court by Romanian and Albanian translators, who deny offences including rape and commissioning child sex offences against six girls aged between 13 and 16.

The crimes the men are accused of are said to have taken place in Gateshead between 2015 and 2019.

The trial at Newcastle Crown Court is expected to last up to six weeks

In the police recordings played to the court, the girl said Mr Paun gave her cocaine and told her she could "make lots of money" as a "sex girl" back in his native Romania.

Over the following days and weeks she would meet Mr Paun for more drugs and he would introduce her to his "friends", the court heard.

She recalled how the other men would "look at [her] funny" and talk about how "pretty" she was, while Mr Paun "would just let them do what they wanted".

The girl, who the court previously heard said she had been raped by several men including Mr Paun while "off her face" on drugs, said the meetings with his friends happened in the park and then at various houses and flats.

She recalled one time in the park when she met at least four men who she was "made" to have sex with.

On another occasion she was held up by one of the men while being attacked because drugs and alcohol had made it impossible for her to stand unaided, the girl said.

'Made me do stuff'

When asked by the interviewing officer if she had consented to the sexual acts, the girl said: "I didn't say 'yeah you can do it'. I didn't have a say in it, but then I didn't say no.

"I just feel like I couldn't say anything because I felt scared."

When asked what she was "scared" about, the girl replied: "They could actually kill us, or they could just leave us there."

Reflecting on events several years later, the girl said she felt like "some people have taken advantage of the way I was at the time".

She said they never asked her for sex as they would have got a "straight up no", but "if they wanted, they had it".

The girl said Mr Paun gave his friend, Codrin Dura, 26, her number and he started messaging her about meeting up, the court heard.

When they did meet, Mr Dura also gave her cocaine before raping her, the jury was told.

She said she continued to see him as she wanted more cocaine, but he "started making me do stuff" before giving her more drugs, the court heard.

The girl described encounters with Mr Dura as "not a nice experience at all".

The defendants, all from Gateshead, face the following charges:

• 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 continues.