Gang raped girl in 'sordid world' - prosecutors

The accused met some of their alleged victims in Gateshead's Saltwell Park, a court has heard

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A grooming gang raped a 14-year-old girl in a "sordid world" involving cocaine and control, a jury has been told.

Six men deny offences against six girls, aged between 13 and 16, in Gateshead between 2015 and 2019.

In her closing speech to jurors at Newcastle Crown Court, prosecutor Anne Richardson said one girl, who made allegations against all six men, had been made a cocaine addict by members of the group so they could prey upon her.

One of the defendants' lawyers said the girl was not as vulnerable as the prosecution made out, was "14 going on 20", wanted to do "adult things" and had given "inconsistent" evidence.

Ms Richardson said barristers for the five Romanian and one Albanian defendants would claim the girl's story was "inconsistent" and "incapable of belief", but trauma affected memories in different ways.

The defendants met some of their alleged victims in Saltwell Park where the men and then-teenage boys would play football, the court has heard.

Ms Richardson said the girl who made allegations against all six men was already vulnerable and drinking alcohol in the park when she met the then 16 or 17-year-old defendant Leonard Paun.

'Inconsistent is not untrue'

A "disruptive" home life and other issues in her life would "make her likely to be easy prey to abusers", Ms Richardson said.

The girl claimed she was given cocaine by Mr Paun and his friends and quickly became addicted, the prosecutor said, which made it possible for her to be "passed around as easily as they passed around a football in their game in Saltwell Park".

"She candidly told you she would effectively do anything to get more", Ms Richardson said, adding that this was the "insidious nature" of addiction which eroded a person's control and made them vulnerable, with the jury having to decide if any sexual consent the girl gave was "true, free and informed".

The prosecutor said the girl had given various accounts to police and jurors which had "inconsistencies" and which defence barristers would claim were "mendacious" and "incapable of belief".

But trauma affected people's memory in different ways, the court was told, and the "sheer horror" of her childhood experiences could account for variances.

"Just because a complainant has not given a consistent account, that does not mean her account is untrue," Ms Richardson said.

She said the girl had described a "sordid world" in which "grooming" through drug addiction was used to make her do what the group wanted, with the girl being assaulted in the park, a car and a flat.

'Desparate to grow up'

In his closing speech on behalf of Mr Paun, Glenn Gatland said the defendant was also a "child" at the time, being 16 or 17 years old, and also "vulnerable" as he had only moved to the UK a few years earlier.

He said the girl presented as being older than her age, wearing full make up and hair extensions and was "14 going on 20".

Mr Gatland said the girl was already drinking in the park and "getting into trouble" before she met Mr Paun or the other defendants.

"The prosecution invite you to the view that [she] was a girl out of control, vulnerable, the combination of her lifestyle and vulnerability making her easy prey," Mr Gatland told jurors.

But, he added, Mr Paun's case was that the girl "wanted to look and behave as a 20 year old," adding: "She wanted to do adult things, she wanted to have sex, she wanted to take drugs and to drink alcohol."

Mr Gatland said the girl, who Mr Paun saw as a girlfriend, may have been "desperate to grow up and escape" an unhappy home life and, even at 14, she was capable of taking "responsibility for her own life".

'Resorted to can't remember'

Why, if she was being raped by Mr Paun, would she contact him hundreds of time, Mr Gatland said, including after police had launched their investigation into her allegations.

Mr Gatland said the inconsistencies in her account were "terribly important" and the jury "might as well toss a coin" when trying to determine which version of her story to rely on.

He also said she told "provable lies" and was a girl who was "trying to explain away her own bad behaviour".

When she was cross-examined about "contrary accounts", the girl told the court she could "not remember", Mr Gatland said, meaning her evidence could "not be stress-tested" as she "resorted" to that answer on so many "important points" .

Mr Gatland said the girl agreed to have sex with other men in exchange for drugs which was a "transactional arrangement" and "not negative consent", adding she sought cocaine from "wherever she could get it".

Mr Paun is also accused of sexually assaulting another girl, which Mr Gatland said was a "copycat" allegation made by a friend of the first girl who was also having difficulties and seeking to get "sympathy and support" for her "delinquent behaviour".

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 with barristers for the other five defendants yet to give their speeches.