Jury begin deliberations in trial of two men accused of sexually abusing and grooming young girls
The two defendants deny multiple sex offences alleged to have been committed against seven girls aged between 12 and 15
The jury in the trial of two men alleged to have sexually abused and groomed several young girls were sent out to begin their deliberations a few moments ago.
Seven girls, some of whom were known to each other, are alleged to have been targeted and abused by Bawan Harwe and Sharam Muhamadi.
They have been on trial at Sheffield Crown Court since Monday, May 11, 2026, accused of a total of 21 offences between them, with both men charged with multiple counts of rape and trafficking charges.
This morning, at 10.42am, Judge Sarah Wright sent the jury of seven men and four women to consider their verdicts.
Last week, a female juror was discharged, leaving the jury with 11 members.
Judge Wright asked the jury to put anything they may have heard concerning majority verdicts.
She said: “The only verdicts I could accept at this stage are unanimous verdicts. That means verdicts upon which all 11 of you are agreed.
“At the moment all verdticts must be unanimous.”
In the case of some of the girls - all of whom are entitled to lifelong anonymity - the defendants are alleged to have abused them after Harwe first made contact over Snapchat.
Prosecutors claim Harwe used a profile bearing the name “Karo” and offered the girls incentives to meet including e-cigarettes and drugs. He is also said to have offered “free e-cigarettes” on a Snapchat story, alongside a picture of a large number of e-cigarettes.
After making contact with the girls, Harwe is alleged to have met up with and committed sex offences against six of the seven girls, before “making them available” to Muhamadi.
He, too, is said to have used an alias, namely “Jack,” on Snapchat.
Harwe was aged 27 at the time of the alleged offence period, running between July and October 2024, whilst Mr Muhamadi was aged 19.
Opening the case against Harwe and Muhamadi last month, prosecutor Claire Holmes told the jury: “The defendant Harwe contacted some of these young girls using the messaging system Snapchat. Contact having been made he, Harwe typically offered the girls money, alcohol, drugs and or E cigarettes as incentives to meet.
“When they met Harwe engaged in sexual intercourse with all but one of them…Harwe then introduced, perhaps made available is a more appropriate expression, some of the girls to his friend and the second defendant Muhamadi.”
Ms Holmes said the “very young girls” were “groomed, plied with alcohol and various drugs and or effectively bribed by the older defendants to submit to various sexual indignities.”
One of the girls “blacked out” after being given alcohol by Harwe, while another was “sick down his bed,” the jury were told.
Ms Holmes continued: “If those means did not achieve their goals then the girls were intimidated in various ways, for example not being allowed to leave where they were until Harwe had been sexually satisfied.”
The defence put forward by Harwe and Muhamadi
Giving evidence last month, Harwe told jurors he did not rape anyone, but admitted having consensual sex with a number of complainants, all of whom he believed to be 16 or over.
Prosecutors claim Harwe, who previously worked at a Doncaster shop selling e-cigarettes and vapes, used a profile bearing the name “Karo” and offered the girls incentives to meet including e-cigarettes and drugs.
He is also said to have offered “free e-cigarettes” on a Snapchat story.
Harwe said he had given Muhamadi access to his Snapchat account, claiming his co-accused was responsible for sending a number of the messages used in evidence.
He also told jurors that while he did, on occasion, provide some of the girls with money to pay for a taxi home, and give them some of his used e-cigarettes and vapes; he did not routinely give, or promise, them sums of money, as has been alleged by prosecutors.
In his closing speech to the jury last week, Muhamadi’s barrister, Bryan Cox KC, told them his client was “not an enthusiastic participant” in respect of the two girls he is charged with assaulting.
Mr Cox asserted there was no DNA evidence against him, and asked the jury not to “lump him in” with Harwe.
He said: “You could argue that Harwe was sexually exploiting these young girls, and his interest in young girls is obvious.
“[But] the evidence is that [Muhamadi] was complaining about the ages of the girls, and said ‘these girls are too young, they shouldn’t be here’.”
The charges faced by the defendants:
Harwe, now aged 28, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to one count of rape committed against a girl under 13 prior to the trial beginning.
He denies one further count of rape of a child under 13, along with: five counts of rape of a girl aged 13/14/15; two counts of adult meeting a girl under 16 years of age following grooming; two counts of false imprisonment and six counts of arranging or facilitating travel of another person with a view of exploitation.
Muhamadi, now aged 20, of Hexthorpe Road, Doncaster, denies one count of rape of a girl aged 13/14/15; one count of rape of a girl under 13 and three counts of arranging or facilitating travel of another person with a view of exploitation.
The trial continues.