TWO men have appeared in court and denied raping a young girl and facilitating sexual offences with a child 14 years ago.

At Bolton Crown Court Libaan Mohammed, aged 31, of Thorns Road, Bolton and Jama Umal, aged 36, of Lonsdale Road, Bolton, stood in the dock and pleaded not guilty to committing the offences in 2006.

Umal is accused of raping a girl on at least five occasions between August and December 2006, and two further counts of raping the same girl. He also denied arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence involving sexual activity with a child, between August and December 2006.

His co-accused, Mohammed is also accused of raping the same girl on at least five occasions between August and December 2006, a further count of rape and two counts of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence between the same

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A trial was listed to take place on October 4 next year. The men were granted bail in the meantime.