Defendant Hashem Abedi didn’t want sibling to know he smoked weed, his trial hears

This article is more than 7 months old

This article is more than 7 months old

A man accused of helping to plot the Manchester Arena bombing with his brother was afraid of his disapproval towards his recreational drug use, a court has heard.

Hashem Abedi, 22, is alleged to have helped orchestrate the terror attack on 22 May 2017 with Salman Abedi, who died when his suicide vest exploded. He is accused of sourcing explosives, arranging logistics and helping to raise funds for the bombing in which 22 people were killed.

During the seventh day of the Old Bailey trial, jurors heard how Abedi had frequently smoked cannabis with a colleague between late 2016 and early 2017 while working at a pizza takeaway joint in Stockport.

The jury was also told that he used to take “a lot of” the opioid painkiller tramadol recreationally, sometimes took MDMA and drank alcohol.

Cross-examining Abedi’s former co-worker on Tuesday, defence barrister Stephen Kamlish alleged that the pair would frequently “hot box” a car with smoke but that Abedi would often be anxious to return home because Salman “disappoved”.

“He called him big brother. He never wanted Salman to know that he smoked weed or did anything naughty,” added Kamlish.

The takeaway worker, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claimed that Abedi had been hit by his brother in the past for behaving in a way he disliked. He also said that the defendant had complained about Salman making him visit a local mosque, adding “he just wanted to chill”.

The witness also described Abedi as “goofy” because he always seemed to be doing the wrong thing.

On Abedi’s 20th birthday on 8 April 2017, the court heard how the witness and other friends had given him “birthday beats” – or a friendly play-beating.

Kamlish said that on that occasion, Abedi “was so worried that Salman would see him looking like he had been taking drugs and roughed up”, the group were forced to drive around in the early hours to find an open supermarket so Abedi could buy eyedrops to disguise his red eyes.

The court also heard that Abedi, who had lived in the Withington area of Manchester, had been caught up in gang feuds between the neighbouring areas of Rusholme and Moss Side as a teenager.

Abedi is alleged to have begun wearing traditional Muslim dress as he became radicalised in the years leading up to the attack. However, his co-worker agreed with Kamlish that the clothes Abedi wore when he knew him were “western” and that he looked “just like a normal dozy teenager in the area”.

The court also heard from another anonymous witness whom Abedi is alleged to have attempted to dupe into buying battery acid on Amazon after they met in Germany while the defendant was living there for several months in 2016.

He described Abedi as a religious man who would often wear a suit but also wore traditional Muslim dress. “He used to say, ‘you’re not a real Muslim,’” he added.