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POLICE allege a Bendigo mother of two was subjected to repeated sexual assault at the hands of six youths who dragged her into a laundry and took turns raping her, a court has heard. Mohammed Elnour, 19, Akoak Manon, 19, and Mohammed Zaoli, 22, all appeared in the Bendigo Magistrates Court yesterday charged with a long list of sex offences stemming from the alleged gang rape in January last year. All three men are contesting the charges and the first day of a committal hearing began yesterday. The court heard Manon and Zaoli both faced 17 charges, including 14 counts of rape and single counts of indecent assault, unlawful assault and false imprisonment. Elnour also faces these 17 charges as well as charges of using a carriage service to harass and harassing a witness. Police allege Elnour contacted the complainant five days after the alleged rape. In court yesterday, footage taken on the night of the alleged attack – retrieved from Zaoli’s phone – was shown to Magistrate Richard Wright. The sound was muffled, the recorded voices were mostly unintelligible, but at times a woman’s voice could be heard saying “no” and “stop”. Prosecuting Alex Albert said the footage showed part of the incident in the complainant’s home, including Zaoli “grabbing” at her, the incident from which the charges of indecent assault and unlawful assault arose. Informant Detective Senior Constable Chris Reed tendered photographs of the defendants taken by police at the complainant’s house shortly after the incident allegedly took place. Senior Detective Reed said six men, three under 18, were arrested soon after. Running through the charges yesterday, Mr Albert explained that each count of rape related to one of the six youths assaulting the complainant while the other five “acted in concert or aided and abetted” the attack. He detailed 14 separate charges of digital and penile rape committed by the men. Mr Albert said that at times the youths pinned the complainant against the wall while another raped her. After the first two incidents, Mr Albert said the woman checked on her two children, asleep in the house, before coming back to the kitchen and being attacked again. He said the charge of false imprisonment came when the complainant was dragged from the kitchen. “Zaoli dragged her from the kitchen into the laundry and she was not allowed to leave,” Mr Albert said. “All the men were involved in that.” The court was told the woman was allegedly raped a further 10 times in the laundry. Family of the complainant became emotional as the charges were read out, trying to hold back tears as they sat in the gallery. In front of them the three defendants remained impassive. After all the charges were read out, the complainant gave evidence to a closed court via video link. The committal continues in the Bendigo Magistrates Court today.

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