Teenager denies attempted murder and rape of 10-year-old girl

A 16-YEAR-OLD boy raped and tried to murder a 10-year-old girl as she walked home from school, leaving her lying unconscious in a stream, a court heard.

The defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused of five offences relating to the incident in Exmouth, Devon, in October last year.

Bristol Crown Court heard the girl had taken her phone out to call her mother as she made her way home when she heard footsteps running behind her.

She was grabbed around the throat and dragged down a bank into the stream by the defendant, who allegedly raped her after she fell unconscious.

A jury of nine women and three men were told the boy, now aged 17, admits choking the girl and sexually assaulting her but denies charges of attempted murder and rape.

He was cycling home when he saw the girl in a grassy area, close to a riverbank covered in trees.

Anna Vigars QC, prosecuting, told the court: “He took hold of her from behind, around her throat, wrapping his arm around her neck and squeezing hard. By accident, she held down the home button on her phone – that activated Siri. That drew his attention to the mobile phone. He took it out of her hands and threw it away from her, into the bushes.

“She had seen some self-defence videos so she tried to do what she saw on those videos, which was to kick her attacker in the groin, but because he was holding her so tightly she couldn’t move sufficiently to get a good kick in.”

A woman walking by the stream found the girl after hearing “a panicked yelling” as she shouted out for a teacher, the court heard.

The boy denies charges of attempted murder, attempting to choke with intent to commit rape, and rape of a child under 13.

He admits attempting to choke with intent to commit sexual assault and assault by penetration.

Richard Smith QC, representing the boy, said he choked the girl with the intention of rendering her “incapable of resistance”.

The trial, which is due to last for two weeks, continues.