A migrant who tried to kiss a schoolgirl before groping a woman who came to her aid was convicted of sex offences today.
Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 41, sparked a huge anti-migrant demonstration in Epping, Essex, and prompted the local council to try and shut down the town’s Bell Hotel where he was a resident after his arrest in July.
He made inappropriate comments and tried to kiss the 14-year-old as she sat eating pizza with friends on a bench after school.
His advances were rejected again when he saw her the following day and a woman who intervened when he put his hand on the girl’s thigh then became the focus of his attention as he touched her leg and tried to kiss her.
Extraordinary body-worn police footage taken as police arrested Kebatu showed him breaking down in tears as he was handcuffed at the side of the road.
The defendant denied three counts of sexual assault, one of attempted sexual assault, a charge of harassment and another of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity but was convicted following a trial at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court.
Kebatu was remanded into custody until he is sentenced. He is due to be sentenced on September 23.
Under current law, foreign offenders who receive a prison sentence of 12 months or more can be deported automatically.
Deportations only occur for sentences under a year in certain cases, for example if it involves a persistent offender or they have caused serious harm.
Last month, the government unveiled plans to immediately kick out rapists, drug dealers and burglars who receive custodial sentences, with a lifelong ban on returning.
But the most violent criminals – including murderers, foreign-born terrorists and other serving life – will still need to finish their sentences before being ejected.
The Home Office was approached for a comment about the Kebatu case.
Wearing a grey sweater and jogger bottoms and joined by an interpreter in court, he showed no reaction as District Judge Christopher Williams delivered the verdicts.
The judge warned Kebatu an ‘immediate custodial sentence’ was the most likely outcome, adding: ‘It is just a question of how long.’
Kebatu had arrived in the UK in a dinghy just eight days before he began harassing the teenager.
Opening the case last week, prosecutor Stuart Cowen said: ‘The court will hear from a number of witnesses that on July 7, the defendant was in Epping.
‘The complainant, a 14-year-old girl, will state that her group were on a bench eating pizza and were approached by the defendant who appeared hungry.
‘They offered him some pizza, which he accepted. He sat next to the girl on the bench and, without any encouragement, began to make inappropriate comments to her and her friends.
‘He said he wanted to have a baby with the girl and attempted to kiss her. He invited the group back to the Bell Hotel where he was a resident, having recently arrived in the UK.
‘His advances were rejected and it was made clear to him that the girl and her friend were 14 years of age. His response was that “age did not matter”.’
The court heard the girl and her friends then got up and walked to Tesco, with Kebatu following them.
‘There was no actual sexual assault on that date but the Crown will say the attempted sexual assault was the attempt to kiss her,’ Mr Cowen said.
‘On July 8, the defendant saw the girl and her friends on the bench and approached them, and the same kind of behaviour was repeated. Unlike the previous day, the girl was wearing her school uniform.
‘Similar advances were made and rejected. Such was the girl’s discomfort that a boy came and sat between the girl and the defendant.
‘The defendant then tried to get the girl to kiss the boy. She didn’t want to do this because he is a friend only but, in an attempt to discourage the defendant, she kissed the boy on the cheek.
‘She will tell the court that while this was happening, the defendant appeared to be sexually aroused.’
The court heard a woman saw what was happening and tried to intervene – but Kebatu sexually assaulted her by putting his hand on her leg and trying to kiss her.
The woman went to a nearby fish and chip shop to get some paper so she could take the girls’ details but when she returned she saw the defendant putting his hand on the girl’s thigh.
Mr Cowen said: ‘The woman was angry and confronted the defendant, saying she would call the police. He then ran off and she pursued him.’
Police were called and made the arrest, the prosecutor added.
Giving evidence by video link, the girl said: ‘He came and sat next to me on the bench. Out of nowhere he said “I want a baby with you and with your friend”. He tried kissing me multiple times so we decided to leave.
‘The next day he came and sat next to us again and said “I want a baby from you, we could make lovely Jamaican babies”.
‘I was like “I’m 14, this is really weird”. But he said “Age doesn’t matter”.
‘He kept on talking about having babies with me and trying to kiss me. I was in shock thinking, “What are you doing?”
‘I didn’t want to argue too much in case things escalated. I was really creeped out.’
She added that when the man touched her thigh, she ‘froze’ and her ‘mind just went blank’ because she was ‘totally shocked’.
In a police interview, a friend of the girl’s said: ‘He told us his name was Thomas. He said he had paid 2,500 euros to get on a rubber dinghy to get to this country and had only been here a few days. He said he came from Kenya.
‘He was trying to give us some of his drink. He was asking us what school we go to.
‘He told the girl “Come back to Africa, you’ll be a good wife” and kept trying to kiss her.
‘He was a weirdo. I didn’t really trust him. I wished he would just go away.’
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On Tuesday, Epping Forest District Council announced it would take its case to shut down the Bell Hotel to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal overturned a temporary High Court injunction which would have forced the 138 asylum seekers there to leave by September 12.
It had argued site owner Somani Hotels had breached planning rules by not notifying Epping of its plans for the Bell.
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The decision to rule in favour of the hotel chain and Home Office sparked outrage, with protests spreading to cities across the UK amid accusations the government was ‘taking the side of migrants over Britons’.
A second man who was staying at the site, Syrian migrant Mohammed Sharwarq, has also been charged with sexual assault, which he denies. Two weeks ago, he admitted six charges of common assault.
Essex Police today said it had arrested 32 people in connection with disorder outside the hotel and 21 of them had been charged.
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