A man who became the focus of far-right demonstrations outside a hotel in Epping, Essex where he and others were housed has been found guilty of sexual assault against two 14-year-old girls.
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, an asylum seeker from Ethiopia, was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault against the girls and another against a woman.
The district judge, Christopher Williams, also found him guilty of one count of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity, and one count of harassment without violence. Kebatu had denied the charges. “This is anti-Christian - these are just children, innocent children,” he told the court.
A two-day trial began on Tuesday at Chelmsford magistrates court and concluded on Wednesday at Colchester magistrates court.
The courts heard that after being offered pizza by one of the girls on 7 July, Kebatu tried to kiss them. He also invited them to the Bell hotel in Epping, where he had been housed after arriving in the UK on 29 June, the judge was told.
A 14-year-old boy, who was friends with the girls, said in a video interview to police that was played to the court on Wednesday that Kebatu asked them to “come to the Bell hotel to have babies then we could go to Kenya with each other”.
His advances were rejected and it was made clear to him that the girls were 14, the court heard.
Kebatu also sexually assaulted a woman a day later by putting his hand on her leg after she offered to help him with his CV, the court heard. The woman, who exercised her right to remain anonymous, told the court via video link, that she was “shocked” and “uncomfortable” after Kebatu touched her.
She said she also saw him touching one of the girls. Molly Dyas, defending Kebatu, asked she had made up allegations because she was angry that Kebatu was an asylum seeker.
The woman replied: “I didn’t make up any allegation. I know exactly what I saw. I’ve no issue with asylum seekers … I was angry that he had touched a 14-year-old girl.”
Cross examining Kebatu, prosecutor Stuart Cowen says: “You are a sexual predator who tried to assault one girl and one woman in exactly the same way.
“That is the truth, isn’t it?”
Kebatu responded: “I am not such a person. I can’t do these kind of things.”
Cowen, acknowledged that Kebatu’s case had “attracted quite a lot of publicity because of the defendant’s personal circumstances”.
Kebatu’s arrest last month sparked weeks of violent demonstrations outside the hotel, which ended last week when Epping Forest council won a court injunction against the hotel being used to house asylum seekers.