Schoolgirl ‘drugged & raped by three men who lured her into car after spotting her alone in Asda car park’
A SCHOOLGIRL was repeatedly raped by three men who gave her drugs after spotting her alone in an Asda car park, a court heard.
Ivan Turtak, 38, Kevin Horvath, 25, and Ernest Gunar, 27, allegedly passed the young girl around “like a receptacle” for their sexual pleasure after luring her into their car.
The men, who were “complete strangers” to the girl, “targeted and exploited” the child, driving her in Horvath’s Skoda to Turtak’s flat in Dover after promising her a cigarette, Canterbury Crown Court heard.
She was later also allegedly taken to Gunar’s caravan in Folkestone, given illicit substances, and subjected to rape and other sexual acts.
Threats to kill her were made if she tried to leave or raise the alarm, it was said, and a photo of her standing naked in a bathtub was also taken.
While Turtak has pleaded guilty to taking an indecent photo taken of a child, in relation to the bath image, he denies rape of a child, reports KentOnline.
Horvath has admitted three charges of rape and one of assault by penetration for the girl, but had pleaded not guilty to sexual assault of a child.
Gunar has pleaded guilty to one offence of rape but denies assault of a child by penetration, sexual assault of a child, and two offences of rape.
The court heard how Horvath allegedly abused the girl in his car, and that she was not wearing her own clothes when she was found by police.
It was also said that tests revealed traces of crystal meth and THC, a central compound to cannabis, in her system.
Prosecutor Hannah Llewellyn-Waters told the jury on Monday that the defendants’ conduct towards the young girl was “callous, degrading, and exploitative”.
She described how the girl was led to the car, given drugs, and abused in her “vulnerable” state.
The court also heard that the girl did not at first reveal the abuse when she spoke to police.
Instead, she claimed she had been in Folkestone and not slept, and changed into clothes she had found in a roadside charity bag.
However, when later challenged about this, she allegedly gave varied accounts to both her family, police, and in a diary entry – these included being attacked in a park and being abducted.
The jury also heard that the girl had been seen with Horvath and Gunar at a hotel swimming pools, appearing to be “having fun”, according to police enquiries.
Ms Llewellyn-Waters said that while the child’s accounts differed, the central part of her allegations still ran true – that the defendants targeted her and gave her drugs to make her compliant for their sexual desires.
She added: “We say that she was passed around and treated effectively as a receptacle for their own sexual gratification, and the defendants’ conduct, in the Crown’s case, was callous, degrading, and it was entirely exploitative.”
The prosecutor argued the three men had demonstrated both their sexual interest in the youngster and that the offending behaviour occurred, in light of them admitting to certain offences.
She said the issue for the jury was to decide whether the specific alleged sexual activity, which the men have denied, did happen.
The court also heard accounts of how Horvath told the girl “not to worry” as he drove off, and that she was given cocaine, taken into a bedroom, and forced to perform a sex act at Turtak’s flat.