THREE men have appeared in court accused of raping a teenage girl in South Tyneside.
Ferdoush Hasan, 22, Raabsan Khan, 19, and Abu Sufian, 21, were at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court yesterday facing a joint charge of rape.
The alleged attack of the 15-year-old girl happened in South Shields on February 12 last year.
The Bangladeshi men were accompanied at court by an interpreter and in a short hearing, spoke only to confirm their names, ages and dates of birth.
No pleas were entered to the charges.
Magistrates were told that because of the serious nature of the allegations, the case must be dealt with at Newcastle Crown Court.
The men, who all live in Ocean Road, South Shields, will appear in Newcastle on March 27 for a plea and directions hearing.
They were given bail until then on the conditions that they live at the address given in court and report to police between 3pm and 5pm every Wednesday.
Christopher Brown, defending, said the men, who all study in South Tyneside, had already agreed to surrender their passports to the court.
The defendants had initially been set to report to police three times a week, as part of their bail conditions.
Mr Brown successfully argued for this to be reduced to once a week.