Rapist jailed for trafficking and abusing girls

A shop worker who groomed and trafficked seven girls aged between 12 and 16 for sexual abuse has been jailed.

Bawan Harwe, 28, messaged his victims on social media under a fake name, offering them money and e-cigarettes to win their trust, before raping and abusing them.

Harwe's accomplice, Sharam Muhamadi, who helped facilitate the abuse, failed to attend the hearing at Sheffield Crown Court and will be sentenced at a later date.

Sentencing Harwe, of no fixed abode, to 29 years imprisonment, Judge Sarah Wright told him: "The harm you have caused is of unimaginable proportions."

Following a four-week trial, Harwe, an Iraqi national, was found guilty of eight counts of rape, two counts of meeting a child following sexual grooming, two counts of false imprisonment, six counts of arranging and facilitating travel of another person with a view of exploitation.

He had previously pleaded guilty to one count of rape of a child under 13, three counts of making indecent images of children and one count of possessing extreme pornography.

During his trial, Harwe told the court he had been working in a convenience store in Hexthorpe and lived nearby in an attic room with two others.

He said he met Muhamadi in 2022 when the latter worked at another shop in the area and they became friends and then lived in the same house.

The court heard Harwe targeted the victims because of their age, plied them with drink and drugs and raped or abused them. The youngest victim was 12 years old.

Judge Wright told the defendant: "The impact of your offending upon the victims, their families and indeed the wider community has been devastating.

"Their childhood and adolescence can never be reclaimed."

Harwe was imprisoned for 29 years and told he would serve a further three years on licence once released.

There were gasps from people sitting in the public gallery when the sentence was delivered.

Muhamadi, who is from Iran, was found guilty of two counts of arranging or facilitating travel of another person with a view of exploitation.

He was cleared of two other counts of arranging or facilitating travel of another person with a view of exploitation and one count of rape.

Under the judge's directions, the jury was also asked to return a not guilty verdict on one count of sexual assault.

Muhamadi stopped attending the trial partway through and was convicted in his absence, with a warrant out for his arrest.

He had been remanded in custody between charge and the beginning of the trial, South Yorkshire Police said, but his defence team's application for bail was then granted by the court.

Under his bail conditions, a surety of £19,000 was provided by Amin Haydar.

On Thursday, Judge Wright ordered Haydar to forfeit the sum within 28 days after the defendant failed to attend court.