SCHOOLGIRLS who were allegedly lured to a student house before being separated and raped in the dark by two men, hid in the toilets sobbing while planning to escape, a court heard.

The two 15-year-old friends had gone to a student house on Cheyney Road in Chester after being invited to a party by strangers when they were walking around the city centre last October.

Yesterday (Wednesday), African students Simbarashe Makondore, of Raymond Street, Chester and Sipho Siyamufinya, of Great Houghton Road, Bradford, both 22, appeared before Chester Crown Court where they denied rape.

The court heard how, at about 2pm on October 22 last year, the girls were in Brook Street when they were approached by Siyamufinya who flirted with them before bringing over his friend Makondore.

Mobile phone numbers were exchanged, with the men calling themselves Jason and George. Shortly after they arrived at the Cheyney Road flat, the court was told the girls were taken to separate bedrooms, before being raped while other tenants listened to music and played games in the lounge outside.

Speaking over a video link, one of the girls described how an African male, who called himself George, had taken her to a bedroom and tried to kiss her. When she resisted, George, who was identified in court as Makondore, pushed her on to the bed and raped her.

Makondore then left the room – moments later his friend arrived at the door naked and raped her as well.

“I was really frightened, I did not know what to do,” said the girl.

“I was begging him to stop, I wanted to escape but I knew if I got out of the room there were more lads there and I might get hurt even more.”

She eventually ran to the bathroom and found her friend sobbing that she had also been raped.

They managed to leave the flat, while the men followed them, before breaking down at the side of the road crying and screaming, where they were spotted by a man who took them to his grandfather’s house where they called the police.

Defending Makondore, Gareth Roberts cross-examined the girl, saying they had told the men they were 16 so that the men would like them and be interested in them, and asked why they stayed at the house for so long.

He asked her: “Your friend is in the next bedroom and you are getting suspicious as to what is going on, this is happening to you, it was clear that this man wanted to have sex with you, you must have been scared, why did you not get up and leave the room?”

The trial continues.