Girl, 14, tells court of her rape

A walk to the store turned into a nightmare two years ago when a pair of teenage boys forced an 11-year-old girl to perform oral sex on them at gunpoint in a West Philadelphia alley, then tried to rape her, the girl testified in court yesterday.

The girl, who recently turned 14, identified defendant Tyrone Briggs, now 17, in court as one of the boys who attacked her Feb. 17, 2006.

Briggs, charged as an adult, faces a nonjury trial before Common Pleas Judge Denis P. Cohen on rape, aggravated assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, weapons, conspiracy and related offenses.

The defendant, of Robinson Street near Race in West Philadelphia, was 15 at the time of the incident.

His younger co-defendant, then 14, admitted his guilt to charges of rape and related offenses in Family Court in August 2006. He was sent to the Pennsylvania Clinical Schools, in Coatesville, a facility for young sex offenders.

Authorities said he was released from juvenile placement a few weeks ago. His name is not being printed because he was charged as a juvenile.

The girl, the first witness to testify at Briggs' trial yesterday, said that about 8:45 that night, she went to a neighborhood store at 60th and Chestnut streets to get Tylenol PM for a neighbor. That's where she first encountered a "light-skin" boy and a "dark-skin" boy, she said. She did not know them.

She identified Briggs in court as the "light-skin" boy, and said she remembered his freckles.

After she came out of a second store, the boys asked her to walk with them on Sansom Street. There, the "dark-skin boy" asked whether she would have sex with him, to which she replied "no," she testified.

Then, "he pulled out a gun," she said.

When she realized it was real, she started backing up. Briggs then allegedly told her: "Don't run. That's how the other girl got shot," the girl testified.

The "dark-skin" boy then forced her into a nearby alley, on South Redfield Street near Sansom, where he forced her to get on her knees and perform oral sex, she testified, as her eyes reddened and she bit her lip, trying to stop the tears.

Briggs acted as the lookout, she said.

"After about 10 minutes, they switched," she said.

The boys then walked her to a resident's yard and porch, where the younger teen first tried to rape her anally, as she was forced to perform oral sex on Briggs, she testified.

"Then they switched," she said under questioning by Assistant District Attorney Nicole Tate-Phillips.

The girl testified that Briggs was not able to penetrate her. The boys then switched again, and this time, the younger teen penetrated her, the girl said.

When they were finished with her, the boys asked her to give them her contact information. The younger teen threatened, "You better not be lying to me," as he "held the gun in my face," the girl testified. He told her he would shoot her family and blow up her house if she told cops, she said.

The girl, who did not give the boys her correct information, immediately told her older sister she was raped, the sister, now 18, testified yesterday.

The girl's family reported the rape to police that night. The girl was examined at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where a rape kit showed "physical trauma" to her lower body, authorities have said.

Testimony in the trial is expected to conclude today. *