Girl, 8, tells court she lied about rape

LONDON: An 8-year-old girl who told her mother that two 10-year-old boys had sexually assaulted her, yesterday said in court that she had lied about the incident because she had been "naughty" and was worried she would not get any sweets.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had earlier alleged that the boys, who are among the youngest ever to be tried for rape in a British court, had pulled her pants down and exposed themselves before raping her.

But yesterday under cross examination she said that she had voluntarily been playing with the boys, who also cannot be named, and had pulled down her own underwear.

Linda Strudwick, defending one of the boys, asked her: "Did you ever tell your mum it was not you but it was [the boys] who took your knickers down? You didn't want your mum to think you had been naughty?"

The girl, giving evidence from behind a screen, replied: "Yeah."

Chetna Patel, representing the other boy, asked whether he had raped her. The girl replied: "No."

The judge, Justice Saunders, asked what the girl had been worried about and she replied: "No sweets if it found out I had been naughty."

The prosecution had alleged that the boys took the girl to a secluded spot in Hayes, west London, to assault her last October. The boys, now 11 and 10, deny the charges. The trial continues.

- Independent