Essex hotel asylum seeker found guilty of sexual assault against 14-year-old girl

An asylum seeker staying in a hotel in Essex that became the focus of protests has been found guilty of sexual assault against a 14-year-old girl and a woman.

- Ben Quinn, Matthew Weaver

Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, from Ethiopia, who had been living in the Bell hotel in Epping was found guilty of two counts of sexual assault and one of attempted sexual assault, committed days after arriving in the UK on a small boat.

Anger over the case was the trigger for protests outside the hotel over the summer, which far-right activists and others sought to exploit. Police have made 32 arrests and charged 21 people in connection with incidents of disorder, which included officers being assaulted.

A district judge, Christopher Williams, also found Kebatu guilty of one count of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity and one count of harassment without violence.

The trial concluded on Wednesday at Chelmsford magistrates court, after hearings there and at Colchester magistrates court heard that Kebatu had tried to kiss the girls on 7 July after one of them had offered him pizza. He also invited the girls to the Bell hotel after arriving in the UK on 29 June, the judge was told.