Girl, 12, is gang-raped in an abandoned hanger in Paris suburb in ‘anti-Semitic attack by three youths including ex-boyfriend who accused her of hiding her Jewish religion from him’

A 12-year-old girl has been gang-raped in an abandoned hanger in a Paris suburb in an alleged anti-Semitic attack by three youths.

The girl from Courbevoie, in the Hauts-de-Seine suburb northwest of the French capital, told police that she had been raped last weekend. 

She said she went to the Henri Regnault square with her boyfriend when three teenagers grabbed her and took her to an abandoned hangar on the site of an old nursery nearby.

One of the attackers was allegedly her ex-boyfriend, 12, who accused her of hiding her Jewish religion from him, Le Parisien reports. The three boys allegedly beat the girl and insulted her religion before raping her.

Local prosecutors have opened an investigation into the rape and the alleged perpetrators were identified as three boys aged 12, 13 and 14 from Rueil-Malmaison, also in Hauts-de-Seine. 

They were arrested on Monday after a gynaecological examination at a local hospital confirmed the rape.

The boys appeared in front of a judge this afternoon and reportedly admitted to the rape.

The girl’s former boyfriend told police that he was angry she hid being Jewish from him and wanted revenge, according to Le Parisien.

Investigators allegedly found anti-Semitic comments and images, including that of a burned Israeli flag, on the boy’s phone.

One of his friends reportedly told police that he had hit the girl because she said bad things about Palestine. 

The local prosecutor’s office said in a statement that the boys are charged with counts of aggravated rape, aggravated sexual assault, attempted extortion, invasion of privacy, threat of death, violence and insults, with the latter two being aggravated due to them admitting the attack was related to the girl’s religion.