A JURY overseeing a sexual abuse case involving seven girls from Barnsley heard that an on-bail defendant has opted against being present for the rest of the trial.
Sharam Muhamadi, 21, denied two counts of rape and four charges of facilitating travel for exploitation.
The defendant, from Iran, was on bail and had been attending the trial for three weeks - but jurors were told he had ‘chosen to absent himself during the course of the trial’.
His co-accused, 28-year-old Bawan Harwe, from Iraq, denies eight counts of rape and ten other charges against seven Barnsley girls aged between 12 and 15.
Earlier on in the trial, the girls claimed Harwe had used a Snapchat account advertising free cigarettes to help him ‘filter and recruit victims’.
The trial - which began at Sheffield Crown Court on May 11 - is expected to end next week.
