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Rape gang's leader, 16, locked up indefinitely
Tim Stewart9 Dec 2008
THE ringleader of nine schoolboys who gang-raped a 14-year-old girl at knifepoint for "disrespecting" him has been locked up indefinitely.
O'Neil Denton, 16, commanded a mob of boys as young as 13 who took it in turns to violate the girl in a two-hour assault. The boys filmed their horrific "punishment" attack on a mobile.
At least five passing witnesses ignored the girl's plight as she was dragged around three locations and repeatedly attacked.
Denton, then 14 and nicknamed "Hitman", was the leader of a Hackney gang, the Kingzhold Boys. The others were members of the gang or connected to it.
Sentencing Denton at Snaresbrook crown court, Judge Wendy Joseph QC gave him an indeterminate term of detention for "public protection".
She told him: "You had power over the others. Your pre-sentence report points to motives of revenge, sexual gratification and exercising a power over both your victim and your gang."
Denton must serve at least three years and eight months before he can be considered for release. His sidekick Weiled Ibrahim, 17, was handed an identical sentence.
Exceptionally, to "deter others" the judge lifted reporting restrictions banning identification of seven boys who forced the girl to perform a sex act.
Prosecutor Nicola Merrick told how the victim's fate was sealed after she told another girl she did not like the latter's boyfriend, Denton. The girl was walking home after school on 30 April last year when 6ft Denton ambushed her with his gang.
Miss Merrick said: "The victim had insulted Hitman. For these perceived offences, she was punished by being repeatedly gang-raped. Denton and Ibrahim controlled events. They decided which boys raped her in what order."
The victim had known one attacker, Cleon Brown, then 13, for years and begged him for help. But he told her: "I can't help you now. I'm with my boys," before raping her too.
In her victim impact statement, the girl said she had attempted suicide several times. She said: "I feel like a prisoner, having to look over my shoulder everywhere I go."
The girl, who now lives in a police safe house, recalled: "One of the gang pulled out a knife and told me if I didn't do what they wanted, they would stab me up. They were surrounding me, laughing and whooping. There were so many grabbing at me, pulling my clothes off. I'd reached the point of giving up. I really thought I was going to die."
Denton, Ibrahim and Yusuf Raymond, 16, all pleaded guilty to rape, kidnap and false imprisonment. Jayden Ryan, 16, was found guilty of rape, kidnap and false imprisonment.
Alexander Vanderpuije, 15, Jack Bartle, 16, Brown, 15, and two unnamed defendants, a 16-year-old and a 14-year-old, were found guilty of rape and false imprisonment.
Raymond and Ryan were given nine and eight years respectively in a young offender institution. Vanderpuije, Bartle, and Brown were each locked up for six years. The unnamed 16-year-old received three years and nine months and the 14-year-old two years and five months.
