Five Underage School Football Players Charged Of Gang-Raping 16-Year-Old Fellow Student

A 16-year-old student of Winter Springs High School, Winter Springs, Florida, was allegedly gang raped by five of her own school mates, reports ABC News. The five boys, all of them underage, now face charges of gang rape for an alleged assault on the 16-year-old girl. Two of the boys, who are also a part of the school’s football team, would be charged as adults, the report said. The three others are being arraigned in a juvenile court, a report by the Orlando Sentinel confirmed. There are also reports of a sixth suspect in the case — 18-year-old Torreano Batton — who is the only adult in the case. Batton has also appeared in the court but has not been officially charged yet.

All six students were arrested after the victim told police that each one of them raped her in a wooded area near her school. The incident happened on November 13, reports the NY Daily News.

According to the victim, she was with Torreano Batton and was walking with him towards a McDonald’s near her school when he led her into the woods. There, two boys who seemed to have been waiting for them raped her. After the two boys raped her, she escaped and attempted to walk out of the woods. However, the boys pulled her back again where all six of them gang raped her. The victim claims that she had also managed to film a part of the assault using her iPhone. The footage in which the boys are seen asking her to do various sexual acts is now in the custody of the police. In the video, one of the boys is heard demanding sex from her because it was his 17th birthday. The victim refuses and is heard pleading them to let her go.

Three of the students who have been charged with gang rape, however, say that whatever happened on that day was consensual. Two others denied being part of the group at all and claimed they were innocent. As for Batton, he too claimed he was innocent and was released on a $35,000 bond in December. Batton was also warned to stay away from the school premises.

Meanwhile, according to the Guardian, all the juvenile suspects involved in the case, if convicted, could be sent to a juvenile detention center until they turn 19. The others who are currently being charged as adults will likely serve a four year sentence in the adult prison system. They will take advantage of the fact that they are “youthful offenders.” Under normal circumstances, the maximum sentence in cases like these happens to be 30 years.

[Image via Gawker]