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smh.com.au Eight boys admit 'filmed' sexual assault October 17, 2007 - 2:29PM
A group of young boys wanted a teenage girl to perform a sexual act with everyone watching "for a laugh", a court has been told.
The 17-year-old girl was filmed performing oral sex on two boys, had her hair set alight, was spat at and urinated on during the incident at a park at Werribee, in Melbourne's outer-west, in June last year, the court heard.
Eight teenagers, aged between 16 and 18, appeared at a Children's Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to charges stemming from the incident.
They have pleaded guilty to charges of procuring sexual penetration by intimidation, one of making child pornography and one of assault.
The prosecution told the court one of the boys agreed when questioned by police that they wanted the girl to perform oral sex with everyone watching for a laugh.
He also agreed he was embarrassed by the incident and would not do what was done to the victim to an animal.
Another youth - who urinated on the girl - told police he felt pressured.
He also said a few days after the incident the girl was "over it".
"She didn't really care about it anymore," he told police.
"She wanted to do it. That's why she came down there."
However, when the girl was interviewed by police she described her feelings at the time as "petrified" and scared.
She also told them she felt powerless to get away.
"It didn't matter what I would say or what I would do, they just wanted me to do what they wanted me to do," she said.
The incident was filmed by one of the boys for a DVD entitled "C*** the Movie", and the section involving this attack was called "The Victim", the court heard.
The DVD was sold at schools in Melbourne for $5 and parts of it have been aired on television.
The prosecutor said the crimes were "appalling and degrading", but called for the boys to be spared detention in youth training centres.
She said the boys' guilty pleas should be taken into account, they had no prior convictions and they were youthful offenders.
"This community is not necessarily served by throwing kids like this into detention centres," she said.
Lawyers for the defendants told the court some of their clients had been harassed and attacked over the incident and one of them was stabbed at a party after he was recognised from the DVD.
Another boy had excrement thrown at his family's home and a bag of urine hung on their front fence, the court heard.
One lawyer said it was in the community's interests that the boys be rehabilitated so they could become valuable members of the community.
The court heard the boys regretted their behaviour, were embarrassed and remorseful.
The hearing continues on Thursday.
Under Victorian law, no participants in Children's Court proceedings can be identified.
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