Associated Press - September 28, 2009 7:04 PM ET

PHOENIX (AP) - A 10-year-old boy charged in the gang-rape of an 8-year-old Liberian girl cried in court Monday as his schoolteacher testified that he rarely did his homework and often got into fights with other students.

Toya Abrams, a second-grade teacher at Camelview Elementary School in Phoenix, says the boy was a challenge and had various behavioral problems.

The boy eventually put his head down on a table and began sobbing, prompting his lawyer to ask for a recess.

The boy is 1 of 4 young Liberian boys facing charges in the rape.

Monday's hearing was to designed to help Judge Dawn Bergin decide if the 10-year-old is competent to stand trial. Two mental-health experts found that he is not.

A 14-year-old is charged as an adult, a 13-year-old is undergoing a court-ordered process intended to make him competent to stand trial, and a 9-year-old has been ruled incompetent.

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