A 14-year-old boy told today (WED) how a woman was
A 14-year-old boy told today (WED) how a woman was gang-raped on a canal towpath – while an 18-year-old girl held her down.
The youth said he saw Claire Marsh and a 15-year-old boy flicking cigarette butts at their victim.
The woman at one point jumped backwards into the canal, the 14-year-old witness said.
When she got out, another member of the group who does not face charges gave her a ‘flying kick’, the youth said.
The 37-year-old woman then tried to run away, but fell on the floor.
‘Claire started ripping off her top,’ the youth said.
And a 15-year-old boy who admits rape then ripped off his victim’s trousers, pulling them down to her knees.
‘He began to have sex with her,’ the youth told Blackfriars Crown Court.
He said the victim was ‘holding her hands behind her head.
‘
Once the 15-year-old got off her, the youth walked away for a short while.
When he returned he said he saw 18-year-old Marvin Edwards ‘get on top of her’.
‘He (Marvin) was probably having sex with her,’ the witness said.
When Edwards finished, the 15-year-old who admits the rape sat on his victim’s chest, and forced her to perform oral sex.
‘He put his penis in her mouth.
‘ Edwards then did the same thing.
Meanwhile, Marsh rifled through the victim’s jacket pockets.
Another 15-year-old boy, who denies rape, then put his hand between his victim’s legs.
‘He probably started fingering her,’ the witness said.
The 16-year-old then took over, crouching on his knees as he indecently assaulted the woman with his hands.
After the woman escaped Edwards and the 15-year-old who admits rape boasted about their sickening attack.
While chatting with a friend at a housing estate, they said: ‘We got shiners.
‘
Quizzed by Richard Whittam, prosecuting, as to what they meant by that, the witness explained:
‘They got their dicks sucked.
‘
The court has heard that both Edwards, 18, of Servius Court, Augustus Close, Brentford, Middx, and a 15-year-old, from Plaistow, east London, have already pleaded guilty to rape.
They each denied indecent assault, and the charges were left on file.
Marsh, of Windsor Court, Laleham Walk, Margate, Kent, denies rape.
Another 15-year-old, from Kensal Town, west London, and the youth aged 16, of Maida Vale, west London, both deny rape and indecent assault.
The victim, who is now pregnant but not as a result of the rape, has completed her evidence.
Earlier the boyfriend of the canal towpath rape victim grabbed a baseball bat from his flat and confronted the gang after the attack.
The man returned home after a night out with friends to find his partner in the road walking towards him ‘completely naked.
‘
Mr Whittam read his statement to the jury: ‘She looked very frightened and startled,’ he said.
The man tried to comfort her as they stood in the street.
He went on: ‘She told me she had been raped by the canal near Sainsburys.
Then she wriggled out of my grip and she made her way home.
‘
He then went inside to find the victim curled up on the bed:
‘She didn’t want me near her.
She told me she had been raped by a gang of people.
‘I was angry and shocked.
‘
He told the jury how he grabbed a baseball bat with the intention of going down to the canal to find her assailants, but the police arrived as he reached the front door.
An angler who was fishing with group of pals by the canal on the night of the attack told the court of his encounter with the gang.
Robert Laverick, said a group of about 20 youths, both back and white, walked past them on the towpath.
One said: ‘You drinking? We’re smoking.
‘
Mr Laverick said he could smell what he thought was cannabis.
The group which contained either two or three girls, disappeared from view round the corner but the witness said he heard the sound of laughing and
shouting about 20 minutes later.
Shortly after that a group of two or three youths ran past him followed by another two on bikes.
But he was unsure of the racial mix in the group or whether a girl was among them.
The trial continues.
ends
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Under cross examination, the 14-year-old later claimed the rape victim offered to have sex with one of the boys by the side of the canal.
The witness said: ‘She was happy.
She was high.
‘
He claimed she told one of the gang:
‘Go on – Make it quick.
‘
But the woman’s mood changed, and she began desperately pleading for the gang to leave her alone as the gang turned hostile, the jury heard.
‘She said she had five kids and she was the only mother.
‘
The witness said he understood she meant ‘leave me alone at this point’, and still had her trousers on.
The trial continues.
ends
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