Alleged child abuser tells jury he had "consensual" sex with girls & believed they were 16 or over
Man accused of abusing girls gives evidence during trial
A man accused of grooming and sexually abusing a group of teenage girls claimed he only ever had consensual sex with them and believed they were 16 or over.
Seven girls aged between 12 and 15 are alleged to have been exploited and sexually abused by Bawan Harwe and Sharam Muhamadi.
The two defendants are friends and lived on the same street at the time of the alleged offences.
Prosecutors allege the men abused the girls after grooming them using cash, alcohol, drugs and e-cigarettes.
Yesterday, Mr 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.
The defendants are alleged to have abused some of the girls after Mr Harwe first made contact over Snapchat.
Prosecutors claim Mr 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.
Mr Harwe is alleged to have met up with and committed sex offences against six of the seven girls, before “making them available” to Mr Muhamadi.
Mr Harwe said he had given Mr Muhamadi access to his Snapchat account, claiming his co-accused was responsible for sending a number of the messages used in evidence.
A translator provided assistance to Mr Harwe, who was born in Iraq, as he gave evidence from the witness box.
Mr Harwe denies grooming and sexually abusing Girls C, D and E
One of the complainants, Girl E, was 12 at the time of the alleged offending.
Under the law, it is not possible for a person to consent to sex until they reach the age of 13 and Mr Harwe has admitted a charge of rape in relation to her.
He said he “wouldn’t have even put a finger on her” had he known her true age.
Prosecutors allege that Girl C told Mr Harwe and Mr Muhamadi Girl E’s real age, after both girls were picked up by the men and driven to Doncaster.
After shopping in the city centre, the girls allegedly got a taxi to a residential property where they met Muhamdi.
Opening the Crown’s case against the defendants, Claire Holmes said Mr Harwe arrived a short time later, bringing alcohol, cannabis and cocaine, the latter of which had been requested by Girl E.
Mr Harwe told jurors Girl E arrived with an e-cigarette containing THC, the psychoactive compound found in cannabis, and a bag of white powder.
Mr Harwe is also alleged to have raped Girl C on the same occasion, the day after she visited the same property with Girl D.
During his evidence concerning Girls C and D, Mr Harwe’s barrister, David Brooke KC, referred to Girl D’s allegation that she was raped in the living room of a Doncaster property linked to him.
Asked Mr Brooke: “The prosecution are saying Girl D did not consent to that, that she was too drunk, had cannabis, or just did not want to do it. What do you say to that?”
Mr Harwe replied: “We were both in agreement, we were happy with what was going to happen.”
He was also asked by Mr Brooke if he “forced” Girl D to smoke cannabis, as prosecutors allege.
“Never,” Mr Harwe replied.
Mr Brooke referred to the account provided by Girl C, who alleges Mr Harwe raped her on the same night in the bedroom of the property.
“What do you say about that?" asked Mr Brooke.
Mr Harwe replied: “For that I also say that I’m definitely sure I didn’t rape her.
“It’s right that we had sex.”
When asked about the following morning, Mr Harwe agreed that he called a taxi to take Girls C and D home, gave them £50 to cover the cost of it, and also provided them with some e-cigarettes.
He denied giving either girl sums of money, beyond what had been provided for the taxi.
This contradicts what Girl C said in messages sent as she travelled from Mr Harwe’s property, in which she claimed to have just been given £100, and expected to receive another £150.
Defendant responds to more abuse allegations
Prosecutors allege Girls A and B were taken to a property connected to Mr Harwe, after getting into a vehicle with him and a man he referred to as his “uncle.”
The court has heard that this male was not related to Mr Harwe, and he referred to him as his uncle as a sign of respect, something which is customary within his culture.
The jury have previously been told that Mr Harwe is alleged to have given Girls A and B a tour of the property; and while the group were upstairs, Mr Harwe is alleged to have tried to get Girl B to go downstairs with the man referred to as his “uncle.”
Moving to those allegations, Mr Brooke asked Mr Harwe whether he tried to make Girl B go with his “uncle.”
Mr Harwe replied: “That never happened.”
He agreed there came a point where Girl B wanted to leave his property. Mr Harwe said his attitude to learning she wanted to go was that it seemed “totally normal to him” and he helped to arrange for her to leave via a taxi.
Mr Brookes asked him if Girl A wanted to leave at the same time as Girl B.
Replied Mr Harwe: “No, she wanted to stay, and even told Girl B to stay too.”
Mr Brooke continued: “Did you put a hand on the door to prevent her from leaving?”
“Never,” replied Mr Harwe.
Prosecutors allege that it is after Girl B left that Mr Harwe raped Girl A, and put his hand over her mouth as he did so.
When asked about that allegation, Mr Harwe said: “That never happened.”
Mr Brookes continued: “Did you ever do anything like that,” to which Mr Harwe replied: “Never.”
Mr Harwe said he did have consensual sex with Girl A, however.
Mr Harwe tells jurors his co-accused was responsible for messages sent from his Snapchat account
Mr Harwe also told jurors that his co-accused, Mr Muhamadi, frequently used his Snapchat account, including during the period when the sex offences are alleged to have occurred.
Jurors have previously been told that the two defendants used aliases with the complainants, both in person and online through their Snapchat accounts.
Prosecutors claim Mr Harwe used the alias Caro or Karo, while Mr Mr Muhamadi used the alias Jack.
In his evidence, however, Mr Harwe said that it is Mr Muhamdi who was known as “Karo.”
Mr Harwe alleged that Mr Muhamadi changed the username on his Snapchat account to “Karo,” after Mr Harwe handed over his login details and gave him access to the account.
Mr Harwe told jurors that his account had been active since 2016, during which time he had accrued a number of followers, and their connection to his Snapchat account kept it “active”
When asked why Mr Muhamadi would have wanted to use his account, Mr Harwe said it was because Mr Muhamadi preferred to use an “active” account like his.
He told jurors that Mr Muhamadi, after changing the account username to Karo, logged on to his Snapchat on his own phone.
Mr Harwe said he did use his account to promote the e-cigarettes and vapes sold at the shop he worked at during the same period.
Mr Brooke referred to messages sent from Mr Harwe’s Snapchat account to a group message containing Girls F and G.
“I had consensual sex with teens,” defendant tells jury
He thought he had been added on Snapchat by Girls F and G in order to discuss e-cigarettes, and believed they had been passed his account details by “other girls.”
Mr Harwe said he was not aware of the group message, or the replies coming from his account, and said he believed it must have been his co-accused Mr Muhamadi who was interacting with the girls from his Snapchat account.
In one of the messages, one of the girls asks if they “have to have sex” with the male they were communicating with, as part of discussions around meeting up.
The account replies that the plan would be for them all to “chill” together
Mr Harwe said Mr Muhamadi had told him he was messaging with some girls, and that they had discussed wanting to have sex.
One of the messages sent from Mr Harwe’s Snapchat read: “Can you call me Daddy because I like it.”
Mr Harwe denied writing the message.
When asked about Mr Muhamadi’s motivation for saying something like that, Mr Harwe responded: “It was just for fun, because of what he likes…because he was using my Snapchat account and this was the kind of thing he likes.
Girls F and G are alleged to have visited Mr Harwe’s property following the messages. Mr Harwe told jurors that the plan for the girls to visit his address was arranged by Mr Muhamadi, and he was told about it the day before.
Mr Harwe is accused of raping Girl G when she was too intoxicated on a cocktail of vodka and cannabis to consent. She is also alleged to have vomited down the side of his bed during the course of the incident.
While Girl G was in that state, prosecutors allege Mr Harwe told Girl F he would only let Girl G out of the property if she - Girl F - agreed to have sex with him.
Ms Holmes previously told jurors that Girl F did have sex with Mr Harwe, but was “crying and saying stop it” - demonstrating that her consent was “not freely given.”
She continued: “He didn’t stop and was hitting her. If someone is crying it is obvious that they do not consent. If some only submits because it is the only way out that is not consent freely given.”
Mr Harwe denied raping Girls F and G, but said he had sex with both of them.
“I’m really sure nothing was non-consensual,” he said.
Mr Harwe agreed that he had bought the girls a tin of pink gin each, and said they had both had a small amount of cannabis.
He denied that either girl was heavily intoxicated, and said Girl G had not vomited at any point.
When asked, Mr Harwe told jurors that he gave the two girls e-cigarettes and money after having consensual sex with them.
The charges faced by the defendants
Mr 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.
Mr 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, which is expected to conclude next month, continues.