A 17-year-old from Co Antrim who is charged with a large number of sexual offences regarding five teenagers, two aged only 13, allegedly told police: "All young girls nowadays are sluts".
The boy, who cannot be named because of his age, appeared at Ballymena Magistrates Court on Thursday via video link from Woodlands Juvenile Justice Centre where he was remanded previously on 21 charges.
The charges include rape, engaging in sexual activity with a child, blackmail, distributing indecent photos of children, possessing such photos, inciting children to take incident photos, disclosing private sexual photos, harassment and unauthorised access to computer material.
It is alleged that after a girl (16) had taken a pregnancy test the youth, grabbed her by the throat before raping her in a bathroom.
A prosecutor said bail was opposed and a police officer told the court of other incidents including one were a girl (13) had been sent an indecent image by the defendant via Snapchat showing his private parts. The court heard when he told her she knew where she lived she felt pressured to send a photo which the boy then sent to the girl's mother via Facebook.
The court was told the defendant had been in a relationship with a girl (17) and uploaded images to social media saying: “I have ruined your life”.
In another incident, a 13-year-old girl with a learning disability was contacted on Snapchat and sent a photo of the defendant naked. He later contacted her when she was playing an online game and told her he knew she slept with her “blinds open”.
It is alleged the youth then tried to blackmail the girl by asking for £500 or else he would send her mother indecent images.
A police officer told the court: “This young man’s life is basically lived online”.
The officer said the defendant had a level of knowledge of the internet and knew how to access software.
During an interview, the officer said the boy had told police: “All young girls nowadays are sluts.”
A defence barrister said his client denied rape and had insisted any sexual contact was consensual.
The lawyer said exchanging explicit photos was becoming “more prevalent” and added that as regards his client allegedly contacting mothers, that was what was “rather crudely termed ‘revenge porn’.”
The lawyer said the defendant had autism and ADHD.
Refusing bail, District Judge Nigel Broderick said he concerned the youth would commit further offences and contact witnesses and remanded him in custody to December 27th.