12 year-old girl was raped by Asian men who treated her as an "object" jury hears.

A 12-year-old girl was raped by men who treated her another child victim as "objects" to be abused in the child sex shame town of Rotherham, a court heard.

Both were targeted because their vulnerability "made them attractive to those who wanted to exploit young, vulnerable girls", the jury at Sheffield Crown Court was told on Monday.

Opening the trial of Obaidullah Omari and Shafakit Hussain, prosecutor Matthew Bean described how the two girls were sexually abused more than 20 years ago in the South Yorkshire town.

Mr Bean said: "These were, in each case, far from normal sexual encounters where consent is clear and obvious, where the parties are on equal terms, where consent is freely given without inducement, or pressure, or fear.

"For these defendants, the girls were objects to be used. There was no true consent."

Mr Bean told the jury of eight men and four women: "The prosecution say that, at the time the offences took place, both girls were already vulnerable.

"Both were the product of fractured or failing families. Both were being looked after in the care system, without the immediate protection of their parents.

"What is more, their circumstances, the hand that they had each been dealt, perhaps meant that they would push against the rules, whether at home or in the care system."

He said: "The prosecution say that this, no doubt, made them attractive to those who wanted to exploit young, vulnerable girls.

"They were, it was perhaps thought, the sort of girls who might not complain. Indeed, they did not make any complaints at the time."

Mr Bean told the jury: "You will have heard of the scandal associated with the abuse of many girls in Rotherham and other towns.

"The fact is it happened and may still be happening."

He told the jurors they should "put to one side the obvious distress and sadness which is associated with the exploitation of the young and to decide, with a clear head, whether the prosecution have got it right against the two defendants in this trial".

Hussain, 46, of Rotherham, denies three counts of raping one of the girls.

Omari, also 46, denies two counts of raping the same girl - including one charge of raping a child under 13.

He also denies two counts of rape and two of indecent assault relating to the second complainant.

The trial continues.