A MIGRANT has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl after he invited her back to his Epping hotel to “make babies”.
Hadush Kebatu, 41, put his hand on the teen’s thigh, tried to kiss her, and told her he wanted to marry her while she was in her school uniform.
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The Ethiopian migrant, who previously worked as a teacher, carried out the attacks just eight days after arriving in Britain on a small boat.
Kebatu was living at the controversial Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, which has been at the centre of a landmark court battle.
The sex attack sparked mass anti-immigration protests across the country, with frustrated Brits demanding that asylum hotels be emptied.
Kebatu, who was assisted by a Tigrinya interpreter in court, has now been found guilty of all charges.
Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court was told the girl was friends “on a bench eating pizza when they were approached by the defendant appearing hungry”.
Prosecutor Stuart Cowen said: “They offered him some which he accepted. He sat down next to [the alleged victim] on the bench and it is said that without any encouragement he began to make inappropriate comments to her and a girlfriend.
“It is the crown’s case that he said he wanted to have a baby with each of them and attempted to kiss them.
“He invited them back to the Bell Hotel where he was resident, having recently arrived in the UK.”
The girl made clear she was aged just 14 as she “rejected his advances”.
In her evidence, she said Kebatu told her and her friends: “You can come back to the hotel with me we can make lovely babies and have sex.”
She told the court she kept telling him how old she was but it “wasn’t getting into his head”.
The girl added: “He told us as well that in his country it is normal to marry 14-year-olds.”
She said that the defendant told her and her friends that he had paid 2,500 euro to arrive in the UK on a rubber dingy and was “loving it here”.
The next day, on July 8, Kebatu made a similar approach but this time the victim was wearing her school uniform.
He then attempted to convince the girl to kiss a male friend. It is alleged that Kebatu had an erection during this interaction.
A female member of the public intervened and Kebatu also sexually assaulted that woman, who then called the police.
Kebatu, whose age was initially reported by police as 38, denied three counts of sexual assault, one count of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity, and one count of harassment without violence.
Epping Forest District Council previously won a bid at the High Court to block migrants from being housed at the hotel.
The temporary injunction meant that the building had to be cleared of its occupants by September 12.
It also caused a ripple effect across the UK as more councils launched their own bids to boot migrants out of hotels in their towns.
But the Court of Appeal last week overturned the injunction following an appeal by the Home Office and hotel owners Somani – meaning the migrants can stay where they are for now.
A further hearing will come in October still after Epping Council accused the hotel of operating unlawfully.
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