Paris Gang Rape Trial Verdict Expected

The trial of 14 men accused of gang-raping two teenage girls over several years is expected to reach a verdict soon.

One plaintiff, Nina, was 16 when she was first raped by a gang of boys in 1999, the Assize Court of the Val-de-Marne, Paris, was told.

She was returning home to the east Paris suburb of Fontenay-sous-Bois from a night at the cinema when she encountered the gang who were drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis.

She recognised some of them as neighbours, the court heard.

The boys surrounded her and started groping her. They dragged her to the top floor of a tower block and demanded sex. When she refused they beat and raped her. At the time she was a virgin.

Nina was so shocked she did not report the incident to the police or to her family. The gang threatened to set fire to her home if she did, she said.

The next day the gang was waiting for her in the lobby of the building where she lived with the mother and younger brother. They took her to another building where she was "offered" to another gang and raped again.

The boys stubbed out cigarettes on her chest as a sign that she was their property. They told her to come back the following day and she was so terrified she obeyed.

Form that day on she was raped and abused almost on daily basis for six months despite her protests. Between 25 and 50 boys would line up to rape her, a witness claimed. She was assaulted in car parks, building stairwells and playgrounds.

The rapes stopped in 2001 but three attackers continued to abuse her. She finally went to the police after she was beaten unconscious by them.

During inquiries, gang rapes against another local girl, Stephanie - not her real name - were discovered by police.

The defendants, all of whom pleaded not guilty, accused the girls of being nymphomaniacs.