Accused: I'd prefer to die than do these things

AN asylum seeker hotel resident yesterday told a court he did not attempt to kiss a 14-year-old girl because he is “not a wild animal”.

- By Josh Payne and Sam Russell

Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu denies touching the teenager last month days after arriving in the UK on a small boat.

He told Colchester Magistrates’ Court he only said “hello” to the girl and her friends in Epping, Essex, and nothing more because he was “worried about my asylum case”.

Kebatu, 38, who was a “teacher of sports” in his home country, said the offences he is alleged to have committed are “anti-Christian” and that he would “prefer actually to die than to do these kind of things”.

He told the court he was on camera on his knees apologising to another alleged victim because the woman was “drunk” and “agitated” and he was “worried about ramifications on the other immigrants” at the Bell Hotel and wanted to calm her down.