A MAN allegedly indecently assaulted two schoolgirls in a Malton flat while two boys watched, York Crown Court heard.

Simon Hickey told a jury that the eyewitnesses stepped in to halt Paolo Francisco Ingles Gomes' sexual acts against their 13-year-old and 14-year-old friends.

But he abused both girls and indecently assaulted the younger as they sat together on a mattress.

Ingles Gomes, 26, formerly of Castlegate, Malton, denies indecently assaulting the 13-year-old and an indecent assault and an act of indecency with the 14-year-old.

A Portuguese interpreter sat beside him in the dock, translating for him everything that was said in court.

Giving the prosecution opening speech, Mr Hickey said the girls were in a Malton flat with the two boys when Ingles Gomes undid his trousers and started his sexual acts.

He indecently assaulted the 13-year-old and tried to do the same to the 14-year-old, but one of the boys called out "Leave it, leave it" and the other cried out "I don't want you here."

They pushed Ingles Gomes away, said the barrister.

"It was obviously a distressing thing for them to occur in front of them and they may well have been upset by what they saw, they may well have been embarrassed by what they saw," said the barrister of the boys.

In police interviews, Ingles Gomes alleged that he and the children had been playing a game in which they spun a bottle.

When it came to rest, the person it was pointing out had to take off some clothes. He denies sexually abusing either girl.

The trial continues.

Updated: 11:09 Thursday, March 14, 2002