Overview
- The 17-year-old told Bristol Crown Court this week that she met Mehrab Safi while shopping, later added him on Snapchat, and accepted a first sexual encounter but said she did not consent to later acts.
- Prosecutors say Safi groomed the girl on Snapchat before arranging for a taxi to bring her from Somerset to a house in St Werburghs in November 2025 where she was given alcohol and cigarettes and sexually assaulted over several hours.
- Four defendants — Mehrab Safi, 21, Awal Ahmadzai, 19, Salman Habibkheil, 19, and a 16-year-old boy — deny charges including rape, assault by penetration and counts described as human trafficking.
- Three adult defendants fled the UK in December 2025 by hiding in the back of a lorry, were located by French police in Calais and returned to UK custody, and prosecutors have shown jurors CCTV, phone data and a recorded police interview.
- The trial, before Judge Michael Cullum, is ongoing at Bristol Crown Court and the outcome will turn on disputed issues of consent, the prosecution's digital and forensic evidence, and how jurors interpret the complainant's accounts.