An asylum seeker told a 14-year-old girl she would be a ‘good wife’ and invited her back to his hotel accommodation in Essex to ‘have babies’, a court has heard.
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, who says he is 38, is accused of attempting to kiss the teenager, putting his hand on her thigh and brushing her hair last month.
He is said to have told her to go back with him to the Bell Hotel in Epping, where he had been staying in the days after arriving in the UK on a small boat.
Police interviews with male friends of the alleged victim were played at Colchester Magistrates’ Court on the second day of Kebatu’s trial today.
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.’
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In footage played to the court on Wednesday, the witness said Kebatu had informed him he paid about 2,500 euros 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 July 7 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”.’
Another complainant also alleges Kebatu tried to kiss her, put his hand on her leg and tell her she was pretty on July 8 after she engaged in conversation and offered to help him with his CV.
She told the court the migrant ‘put his hand on my left thigh and I pushed his hand away’ during a conversation in Epping in Essex.
The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said she felt ‘shocked, uncomfortable’ when the man touched her leg.
She said that a group of schoolchildren were nearby when the man, who ‘looked African descent’, called her over.
‘He asked me if I lived in the area, he asked me if there were any jobs in the area, he asked me what it’s like, he mentioned he needs help finding a job,’ she said.
‘I said I could help him with his CV if he needed help.’
She said that during this conversation the man put his hand on her leg, and he ‘said “you’re very pretty”‘.
She said she told him ‘don’t touch me’.
The alleged incidents sparked protests and counter-protests outside the former Bell Hotel and similar protests have been held outside hotels across the country housing asylum seekers.
Kebatu 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, now on its second day, continues.
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