‘No consent, but he didn’t care’ – girl

Mar 7 2008 by Liz Keen, South Wales Echo

A 15-YEAR-OLD schoolgirl has told a jury she was raped in the summer holidays by an older boy when a group of friends gathered in a field at night.

The two were with friends who regularly met to socialise and drink in the Bedwas area of Caerphilly in a country walk area near the River Rhymney.

Her father, who was out looking for her because she was late home, called police when she said she’d been attacked.

Prosecutor Merion Davies has told a jury how she arrived home after her 10pm deadline, crying and hysterical.

She named her attacker as a boy she had known for years.

At 17, he cannot be named by court order, and has pleaded not guilty to rape, saying everything that happened was with her consent. He also denies groping her and two of her friends earlier that same night.

Yesterday, a jury at Cardiff Crown Court saw a video interview the girl gave to police officers before she was then questioned over a live television link to the courtroom.

She said she had found herself alone with him after some friends left and others were on a bench at the far side of the field. She was looking for a watch someone had lost earlier and he followed.

She said: “He pushed me down and I shouted ‘what are you doing? Get off!’.

“I was struggling and trying to push him off and he kept saying ‘come on’. I didn't give him consent but he didn’t care.”

(proceeding)