An asylum seeker hotel resident has been convicted of sexually assaulting a woman and a 14-year-old girl just days after arriving in the United Kingdom on a small boat.
Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu’s behaviour in July sparked protests and counter-protests in Epping, Essex.
Further demonstrations were held outside hotels housing asylum seekers across the country.
During his three-day trial at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court, evidence was put forward that he told two teenagers he wanted to “have a baby with each of them” and attempted to kiss them.
He then went on to put his hand on one of the girls’ thighs and stroke her hair, the court heard.
Kebatu was also found to have sexually assaulted a woman by trying to kiss her, putting his hand on her leg, and telling her she was pretty.
Kebatu, who was a “teacher of sports” in his home country, denied all charges against him. He told the court he is “not a wild animal”.
District judge Christopher Williams took just 30 minutes to return his guilty verdicts and outline his reasoning on Thursday.
The defendant gave no visible reaction as Mr Williams told him he was guilty of 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.
Kebatu is due to be sentenced at a later date.
Kebatu’s trial was told he was offered pizza by the 14-year-old victim shortly before he tried to kiss her on 7 July.
The court heard Kebatu had made inappropriate comments to the girl, such as “come back to Africa, you would be a good wife”, and “do you want to come to the Bell Hotel to have babies then we could go to Kenya with each other”.
The girl told police she “froze” as the defendant sexually assaulted her and had told Kebatu, “No, I’m 14” when he spotted her again in Epping the following day.
The court heard his response to the teenager was: “No, no, it doesn’t matter, you could come back to the Bell Hotel with me.”
An adult member of the public was also sexually assaulted by Kebatu on 8 July during an incident in which he touched her leg and tried to kiss her when she offered to help him with his CV.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she felt “shocked” and “uncomfortable” at his behaviour.
The adult victim told the court she confronted Kebatu when she saw him speaking to a “young schoolgirl”.
She said the defendant ran away from the initial confrontation, but she caught up with him near the Bell Hotel while on a 999 call with police.
The woman told the trial: “It was a lot of begging, pleading and apologising, and a lot of ‘I’m sorry, I’m going to go, it was a mistake’ – along those lines.”
Footage of Kebatu’s arrest showed him appear to become tearful after he was handcuffed by an officer, with the defendant eventually getting on his knees on the pavement next to a police car.
Judge Williams told Kebatu to expect a prison sentence.
“You can expect an immediate custodial sentence to be imposed on September 23rd, it’s just a question of how long any sentence is going to be,” he said.
He asked that a report be prepared about Kebatu before sentencing, noting there was “so little known” about him.
