An asylum seeker has denied trying to kiss a 14-year-old girl and told a court: “I’m not a wild animal.”
On day two of his trial, Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was asked if he tried to kiss the girl and gave the reply through an interpreter, adding: “I can’t do these kind of things. These are children, new generation.”
The court heard the 38-year-old told the girl he wanted her to go back to the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, where he was staying.
Kebatu is accused of attempting to kiss the teenager, putting his hand on her thigh and brushing her hair last month.
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 alleged incident involving Kebatu sparked protests and counter-protests outside the hotel in Essex after similar protests were held outside hotels across the country housing asylum seekers.
On Wednesday, the trial at Colchester Magistrates’ Court saw police interviews with male friends of the alleged victim being played to the court.
One of the teenager’s friends, a 14-year-old boy, said Kebatu was “staring at us the whole time”, adding: “We went into Tesco and he was following us.”
In footage played to the court on Wednesday, the witness said Kebatu had informed him he paid about €2,500 (£2,155) to “get on a rubber dinghy to come to our country”.
Another 14-year-old boy told police the defendant described two of his teenage female friends as “pretty” and “asked for a kiss from them both”.
The boy said they gave the man a slice of pizza on 7 July, and then the man “asked to have babies with [the 14-year-old girl] and this other girl, then he asked for a kiss from both of them”.
The witness added: “He just said they’re pretty, and he also said do you want to come to the Bell Hotel to have babies then we could go to Kenya with each other.”
Describing a comment the man allegedly made to a girl in the group, the boy said: “The geezer said ‘come back to Africa, you would be a good wife’.”
A woman said Kebatu was “begging, pleading and apologising” when she confronted him after he allegedly sexually assaulted the 14-year-old girl.
The witness, who alleges Kebatu also sexually assaulted her, said the defendant ran away when she asked him what he was doing when she saw him speaking with a “young schoolgirl”.
Addressing what happened when she eventually caught up with him near the Bell Hotel, the woman said: “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.”
In a 999 call played at Colchester Magistrates’ Court, the woman tells a police call handler: “I want to report a man, a very strange man in this area.”
“He’s very touchy-feely, he touched me,” she said.
She said she “saw him talking to minors still in school uniform”.
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The woman said the man “lives in the Bell Hotel, Epping” and had been “harassing 14-year-olds”.
She said he had “done a runner to the hotel, that’s where he lives”.
She is heard on the call walking towards the man and explaining to the call handler where he is, as police units are sent to the area.
She repeatedly swore and said: “This man is a paedophile”.
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The woman was asked by Molly Dyas, defending Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, if she had made up allegations because she was angry Kebatu was an asylum seeker.
“I didn’t make up any allegation,” the woman told Colchester Magistrates’ Court. “I know exactly what I saw. I’ve no issue with asylum seekers.”
The woman said she had drunk about a cup of rose wine earlier in the day.
Asked by Ms Dyas if she thought she sounded drunk in the 999 call, the woman replied: “No, I sound emotional and angry.”
The woman said she had “seen a grown man touch a 14-year-old girl’s leg so she moved his hand away”.
Prosecutor Stuart Cowen told the court Kebatu gave a no comment interview to police, but began the interview by denying the offences and adding “she’s young enough to be my child”.
The trial continues.
