A 14-year-old girl was left feeling sick to her stomach after a man tried to kiss her and her friend, telling them he wanted to have a baby with each of them, a court has heard.
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, an asylum seeker being housed in the hotel in Epping that has been at the centre of repeated far-right protests since his arrest, is accused of sexual assault and harassment against the two 14-year-olds and another woman.
“It’s the crown’s case he said he wanted to have a baby with each of [the 14-year-olds] and attempted to kiss them,” the prosecutor, Stuart Cowen, told Chelmsford magistrates court on Tuesday, adding that the incident happened after one of the girls offered Kebatu pizza because he looked hungry.
“He invited them back to the Bell hotel, where he was a resident, having recently arrived in the UK. These advances were rejected and it was made clear to him [that the girl] and her friends were 14 years of age.”
Addressing the alleged sexual assault on the third person, Cowen said: “She came and sat next to the defendant when the group got up, and she engaged in conversation and offered to help him with his CV. She then alleged he sexually assaulted her by putting his hand on her leg and tried to kiss her.”
Cowen said Kebatu’s “advances” towards the 14-year-olds were rejected. He said the case against Kebatu, who had recently arrived in the UK, has “attracted quite a lot of publicity because of the defendant’s personal circumstances”. The allegations against him sparked protests and counter-protests outside the Bell hotel.
The defendant is alleged to have approached the two friends on 7 July, before putting his hand on one of the girl’s thighs and attempting to kiss her again the following day. The girl told police she “froze” and told him: “No, I’m 14.” She said Kebatu responded: “No, no, it doesn’t matter, you could come back to the Bell hotel with me.”
Speaking about what happened when she offered Kebatu pizza, the girl told police: “He’s hovering, he’s come over, he looked hungry, so we was like, ‘Do you want a slice?’ He sat down eating a slice. Out of nowhere he said: ‘I want one baby from you and one baby from your friend.’ I put my boy mate between us.”
One of the 14-year-olds told the court she felt “really sick to my stomach” after the alleged sexual assault. In a police interview played during the hearing, she said: “I wouldn’t think a full-grown man would think it was OK to do that. I felt really intimidated.”
Kebatu, of the Bell hotel, spoke through an interpreter to give his date of birth as December 1986, making him 38 years old. He denies two counts of sexual assault, one count of attempted sexual assault, one count of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity, and one count of harassment without violence. The trial, which is expected to last two days, continues.
