A gang of teenage boys raped a woman in a town centre alleyway just minutes after chancing upon her as she sat on a nearby bench, a court heard today.
The four youths targeted their alleged victim after her phone battery ran out following a visit to her boyfriend's home, jurors were told.
Prosecutor Samuel Skinner KC said the boys, two of whom were aged 15 at the time and two 17, 'persuaded' her to walk down the dark passage with them - with the woman, 18, 'trusting' that they were taking her somewhere to have a drink.
But once in the secluded spot it was claimed three of them 'took it in turns to have sex with her against her will' - despite her begging them to stop.
The hearing was told that after the alleged incident, the 'distraught' woman walked home 'in an absolute state' with cuts and bruises to her knees, and bruises elsewhere on her body.
She subsequently reported the matter to police, later identifying one of the alleged rapists on social media.
Three of the accused - two now aged 18, and one 16 - deny rape, while the fourth, now 16, denies aiding and abetting two of his co-accused. None can be named for legal reasons.
In opening the case, Mr Skinner KC told the jury the alleged incident took place in Newark, Nottinghamshire, three days after Christmas in 2023.
Jurors heard the woman was sat on a bench outside Hollywood Nails when the defendants met her.
Nottingham Crown Court heard the woman was attacked after being persuaded' to walk down an alleyway.
He said the woman had been to visit her boyfriend that day, and had travelled to Newark afterwards by train.
But he added she was 'unhappy', and stopped to sit alone on a bench outside a nail bar in the town centre for a few minutes to have a drink.
Mr Skinner told at Nottingham Crown Court: 'Her phone battery had run out. Passers-by noticed her and asked if she was alright.
'But then a group of male teenagers approached her, including some of these defendants, and persuaded her to go to a dark alley with them.
'She trusted that they were taking her somewhere to have some more to drink. But instead, several of these teenagers had sex with her in that alley against her will.'
Mr Skinner said the defendants 'took it in turns' as the woman was attacked on 'dirty ground next to some wheelie bins'.
He added: 'Whilst they did what they wanted she said 'no', and cried.
'Other teenaged males watched, encouraging the others and making it difficult for her to escape.
'One took videos on his mobile phone, but I make it clear they do not show the events clearly at all.
'Not all of the teenagers who were there in that alley were identified. But these defendants were.'
He said the defendants and the group of bystanders knew each other, but that the victim did not know any of them.
Mr Skinner told how the first boy alleged to have raped the woman has never been identified. The prosecutor said she kissed him in the alley - but he 'didn't listen' when she asked him not to go any further.
The court was told he then had sex with her while the others watched - telling them, 'Have fun boys' once he had finished.
One of the accused 17-year-old youths subsequently raped the woman, Mr Skinner added, before one of the two 15-year-old defendants forced her to perform a sex act upon him.
This was followed by the second 17-year-old, it was alleged, who struck in another secluded area further down the alleyway after the woman asked him to walk her home, after he initially appeared 'kind'.
Mr Skinner claimed the final defendant, who was 15 at the time, didn't have physical contact with the woman, but surrounded her while the others did, and encouraged them.
He added the boy denied being present during the incident - but police later found videos on his phone that he had taken of it which were shown to jurors.
The court heard the boys gave their alleged victim false names in a bid to avoid detection, but all later claimed after they were arrested that she had consented to sexual activity.
But Mr Skinner said he wanted to 'remind' jurors the victim was 'a female teenager that they had met just minutes beforehand, and whose name they did not know'.
Despite two of the defendants now being 18, they sat on the back row of the court rather than in the glass-fronted dock alongside their co-accused after judge Stuart Rafferty KC told jurors at the start of the case: 'They were all children at the time the offences alleged against them took place. 'We do not put children in glass boxes. We treat them better than that.'
Parents of the youths listened to details of the evidence from the public gallery.
The trial, which is expected to last three weeks, continues.