A 12-year-old boy has appeared in court charged with sexually assaulting and wounding a woman in her 60s. The youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, made a video-link appearance at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday.
He was not asked to enter pleas to the charges or to separate allegations of intentional strangulation and theft. The boy was charged last month after a woman was found injured at an address in Birmingham and left in a serious condition in hospital.
Judge Simon Drew KC remanded the boy into secure accommodation following the 20-minute hearing. His parents observed proceedings from the public gallery.
Adjourning the case, the judge ordered a plea and trial preparation hearing for August 13, with a trial listed for October 5. He also ruled that a parent or appropriate adult may sit next to the boy outside the dock at future hearings.
