A 14-YEAR-OLD girl was lured into the men's toilet block at Nelson Bay by two men who asked her to give them a haircut, a Newcastle court has heard.
One of the men had a pair of cordless clippers on him, and convinced her the light would be better in the toilets, the court heard. It is alleged that once she was in there with them, the two men took turns to sexually touch her. They repeated the assault during a car trip home, the court heard.
Neil George Wood and Francis Mitchell Leigh have denied assaulting the girl, pleading not guilty in the Newcastle District court on Monday to eight counts each of sexually touching the 14-year-old.
The men, known as 'Woodsy' and 'Franky', agreed they were there in the park together on the night of February 12, 2019, that they met the girl, and that they went into the men's toilets with her for a haircut.
But they both deny the allegations of assault. It simply didn't happen, said defence barrister Robert Hussey, acting for Mr Leigh, said. "The allegations are awful," he said. "But they are just that, allegations."
Crown Prosecutor David Henschell told the jury that the young girl had been out shopping with a friend earlier that day and was walking home to another friend's house where she was staying in Shoal Bay.
It was dark, and she was walking along a footpath when she heard a man saying "Oi, oi, oi". He approached her from where he'd been sitting at a picnic table near the water.
He told her his name was 'Franky' and started talking to her and asked if she wanted to come for a smoke. They spoke about another girl her age who they both knew, and then the man asked if she did haircuts. He needed a haircut because he was going to a funeral the next day, he said.
She pointed to a spot in the park with a table and under a light, but they convinced her to go into the men's toilets she she was groped by both men, the crown says, in what was a joint enterprise between the two men.
When she moved out of the reach of the first man, the second man touched her, the court heard. They whispered things to her, saying she was "sexy". She was terrified, the crown said, and believed that she was going to be raped, but tried to act as if she wasn't scared.
At one point a police car drove by and she gave the car a "signal wave'" but he didn't stop, the court heard.
She then got into a car with them to be driven home where the two men allegedly assaulted her again, reaching to her in the back seat from where they sat in the front of the car, the court heard. At first they said they were going to drive her to Newcastle instead, and drove past the friend's house, but then did a U-turn and came back and let her out.
The men demanded hugs of her and also took a selfie with her, the crown said. The girl was sitting in the driveway when her friend, who'd been out looking for her, found her. The evidence will be that she confided in her friend, as well as another friend and her mother, the crown said. The trial is continuing.
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