A judge ordered yesterday that seven teenagers who gang raped a 14-year-old girl in a brutal "punishment" attack should be identified in a bid to deter other young men from similar crimes.
Judge Wendy Joseph QC warned the defendants, some of whom were as young as 13 at the time of the incident, that they faced jail sentences for the attack in Hackney, east London, as the court heard that the victim been driven to attempt to kill herself.
She was singled out because she had insulted the leader of a local gang, the Kingzhold Boys, the prosecutor, Nicola Merrick, said. She was dragged by her hair between a succession of tower block stairwells and landings in an ordeal that lasted around an hour and a half.
She was taunted, hit, threatened and orally raped by an ever-growing crowd of teenagers summoned to the scenes by mobile phone. By the time they reached the final scene, 15 boys were present. Some of the attacks were filmed on phones and shown to others later that night.
Merrick asked for the order which usually bans the identification of juvenile defendants to be lifted. "Those young people who become members of gangs, should know the outcome of this trial, that they will not mete out punishments as a gang with impunity and not ultimately retain their anonymity." The judge lifted the order after hearing the crown argue that the community and public should know what had happened. "Naming and shaming is something this procedure is not designed for," Joseph said. "That's different from deterring others."
She left the order in place in relation to two others who were also convicted of rape because they were part of the gang, but did not actually assault the girl.
The seven who can be named are: O'Neil Denton, 16, the leader of the gang; Weiled Ibraham, 17; Yusuf Raymond, 16, and Jayden Ryan, 16, who were all convicted of rape, kidnap and false imprisonment, and Alexander Vanderpuije, 15; Jack Bartle, 16; and Cleon Brown, 15, all convicted of rape and false imprisonment. Denton, Ibraham and Raymond had all pleaded guilty.
The two who cannot be named are now aged 14 and 16. They will all be sentenced on Monday.
Reading from a victim impact statement, Merrick told the court the victim said her life had been turned upside down. She now lived in a police safe house out of the area and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
The girl said in the statement: "I feel like a prisoner, having to look over my shoulder everywhere I go. I used to find the unexpected fun. Now the unexpected is frightening and not exciting like it used to be."
She also blamed herself for not doing more to resist the attacks by screaming and fighting back, but was frozen with fear, the court heard.
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