A MAN has denied abusing two girls in Malton as two boys watched.

Paolo Francisco Ingles Gomes was giving evidence in his own defence after a jury heard two girls say he had abused them in a flat in central Malton in September 2001.

Ingles Gomes, formerly of Castlegate, Malton, denies two charges of indecent assault and one of indecency.

He told a jury at York Crown Court that he left his native country of Angola as a refugee in 1998 fearing for his life because he had "problems".

He had always wanted to come to England to live, work or study, and could have come whenever he wanted, he said.

Speaking through an interpreter, the 26-year-old said he arrived in Malton at the beginning of August 2001.

He said he left Malton in early September to stay with cousins who live in Leeds.

He denied prosecution suggestions that he had stayed in the Ryedale town until late September and left because of what the girls were saying about him.

The defendant said he had met the girls, aged 13 and 14, in the boyfriend's flat and they had played a game that involved stripping off.

When he had taken off two items of clothing, he had walked out of the game, because, he said, he realised he had nothing more to take off.

He denied exposing his private parts and indecently assaulting the girls.

The jury heard that Ingles Gomes answered all questions in his police interviews in English.

He denied prosecution suggestions that he insisted on speaking through a Portuguese interpreter at his trial to conceal his grasp of English and to give himself time to think before answering questions.

He also denied that he had used the names Paul Ingles and Inglesomes.

The trial continues.

Updated: 11:34 Friday, March 15, 2002