From Sky News and The Telegraph
Asylum seeker’s trial begins with court hearing that, having tried to kiss teenager, he told her ‘age doesn’t matter’
A migrant hotel resident told a 14-year-old girl he wanted to have “Jamaican babies” with her after she offered him a slice of pizza, a court heard. This is what happens when a child’s sensible wariness of strangers is overcome at school by projects such as welcome heart messages for migrants.
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, from Ethiopia, is also alleged to have attempted to kiss the girl and get her to drink a beer with him.
When she told him she was too young, the Ethiopian replied: “Age doesn’t matter”, Chelmsford magistrates’ court heard.
The 14-year-old girl said: “He said he wanted to make Jamaican babies, and said that if you come back to the hotel, we can have sex and have lovely babies… It really creeped me out about that because anything could have happened.”
Mr 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.
At the opening of the 38-year-old’s trial on Tuesday, prosecutors said Mr Kebatu approached the girl, who was sitting with a female friend and told them “he wanted to have a baby with each of them” before attempting to kiss them.
Mr Kebatu is alleged to have initially approached the two friends on July 7, before putting his hand on one of the girl’s thighs and attempting to kiss her again the following day.
Another member of the public, who the court heard offered to help the defendant with his CV, alleges Mr Kebatu tried to kiss her, put his hand on her leg and told her she was pretty on July 8.
The asylum seeker spoke through an interpreter to give his date of birth as in December 1986, making him 38 years old.
Opening the case against the defendant, Mr Cowen said: “It’s the Crown’s case that he said he wanted to have a baby with each of [the teenagers] and attempted to kiss them. 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 [the girl] and her friends were 14 years of age.”
A video of a police interview with one of the teenage girls was played in court in which she said she and her friends had been sitting on a bench eating pizza when they noticed Mr Kebatu standing nearby.
“He’s hovering, he’s come over, he looked hungry so we was like ‘do you want a slice?’,” she said.
“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.”
She said that, even though the boy was sitting between them, Mr Kebatu attempted to kiss her.
The teenager told police that on another occasion, the asylum seeker “kept wanting us to come back to the Bell Hotel with him”.
She said: “We was out again, we see him, he’s seen us, he started waving at us”.
The court heard that Mr Kebatu allegedly came and sat next to her and “tried getting her to drink his beer”. When she told him no and said she was only 14, he allegedly replied: “Age doesn’t matter.”
The 14-year-old said Kebatu told her he was staying at the Bell Hotel after arriving in the UK on a boat. He allegedly told her he was from an African country beginning with the letter S.
The girl said she felt “really sick to my stomach” and “really intimidated” after the alleged assault, telling police: “I wouldn’t think a full-grown man would think it was OK to do that.”
Molly Dyas, defending, questioned the girl at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, asking: “On July 7, the man says he didn’t have any pizza from you. Is he right about that?”
The girl replied: “No, he’s incorrect. He did.”
Ms Dyas asked: “The man says he only said hello to you and your friends. Is that correct?” The girl said “no”.
The lawyer further said: “He says he didn’t say ‘I want a baby off you’, is that correct?” The alleged victim replied, “he did,” and added she told him “over and over again” she was 14 years old.
Another female member of the public alleges that Kebatu tried to kiss her, put his hand on her leg and told her she was pretty on 8 July.
The defendant, of the Bell Hotel, spoke through an interpreter in court, with a list suggesting that Kebatu’s chosen language is Tigrinya, which is commonly spoken in the African country of Eritrea.
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.
Mr Kebatu’s trial, which is expected to last two days, continues.
As the assaults did not proceed to penetration they are, under English law, ‘triable either way’ which means they can go to trial at the Crown Court if the defendant requests a jury trial or they can be tried at the Magistrates court before a magistrate or panel of magistrates, which is what is happening here. Magistrates only have limited powers to sentence on conviction, but if they consider the offence serious enough they can commit to the Crown Court for sentencing.
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