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Two girls tell jury about sexual assault in salon

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — For the first time, two girls, 17 and 20, told a jury how they were sexually assaulted inside an east Charlotte hair salon three years ago.

Duncan "Ray" Bynum is on trial in connection with assaults at his salon on Shamrock Drive in 2009.

The girls told jurors the man they knew as “Big Ray” lured them into his salon with the promise of free haircuts, but once they were inside, he locked the door and made it clear he had more than that in mind.

"He turned the music on first and told us to take off our clothes," said one woman, who was 17 at the time.

Once they were undressed she said Bynum told them to dance, then took Polaroid pictures of them in various poses.

After that, she said, he assaulted her.

"He pushed me down and he was having sex with me and I kept saying, ‘No. Stop. Get off of me.’ And he kept doing it," the girl said.

She told the jury that he then did the same to her friend, who was only 14 at the time.

Bynum's attorney pointed out inconsistencies in the girls' stories -- including the fact that they had first told police and counselors that Bynum had used a gun to force them to have sex.

They said that isn't true.

A prosecutor asked one of the victims to explain why she had lied.

"Because I was scared," she said.