{"id":36059,"date":"2025-08-27T18:01:56","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T18:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/i-am-not-a-wild-animal\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T18:01:56","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T18:01:56","slug":"i-am-not-a-wild-animal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/i-am-not-a-wild-animal\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I am not a wild animal’"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Lewis Adams<\/span><\/p>\n

BBC News, Essex<\/span><\/p>\n

Reporting from<\/svg>Colchester Magistrates’ Court<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\"CPSCPS<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Hadush Kebatu is accused of trying to kiss a 14-year-old girl in Epping<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

A man accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl insisted: “I am not a wild animal”, as he fought the allegation in court.<\/p>\n

Hadush Kebatu, from Ethiopia, is accused of telling the girl and her friend “you would be a good wife” during one of two encounters in Epping, Essex, on 7 and 8 July.<\/p>\n

His arrest led to a wave of anti-immigration protests and counter-demonstrations outside The Bell Hotel, where Mr Kebatu was staying as an asylum seeker.<\/p>\n

He denies two sexual offences, inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity, and harassment without violence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Giving evidence at Colchester Magistrates’ Court, Mr Kebatu said: “The girl could be my daughter, she is very young.”<\/p>\n

Speaking from the witness box, he added: “I’m not a wild animal. These are children, the future of tomorrow, the new generation.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"PAPA Media<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The owners of the Bell Hotel have been told it can no longer house asylum seekers<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

Mr Kebatu said he was worried about his asylum claim and the outcome of his trial on his fellow migrants.<\/p>\n

Asked if he told the girls he wanted to have a baby with them, he said “never”, adding that he was a sports teacher in Ethiopia.<\/p>\n

It followed a witness giving evidence against Mr Kebatu, saying they overheard him say he was from Africa and had paid 2,500 euro (\u00a32,155) to arrive in the UK on a “rubber dinghy”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The trial was told the asylum seeker approached a girl and her friend, who were eating pizza in Epping town centre, on 7 July.<\/p>\n

The witness, a boy who was with the 14-year-olds, said of Mr Kebatu: “He was mainly just interested in them two because they were girls.”<\/p>\n

He claimed to have overheard the asylum seeker telling them: “Come back to Africa, you would be a good wife.”<\/p>\n

It was alleged the defendant saw the girl and her friends the following day, placing his hand on her thigh and attempting to kiss her on a bench.<\/p>\n

She told police she “froze” during the incident and told Mr Kebatu: “No, I’m 14,” but claimed he responded: “Age did not matter”.<\/p>\n

“I felt sick to my stomach. I didn’t think a fully grown man would think it was OK to do that,” she said on the first day of the trial on Tuesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"JuliaJulia Quenzler\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Mr Kebatu gave evidence from the witness box on Wednesday afternoon<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

During the trial, Mr Kebatu gave his date of birth as December 1986, making him 38, but court records suggested he was 41.<\/p>\n

The girls managed to leave Mr Kebatu after a woman engaged him in conversation about his CV.<\/p>\n

She told the court on Wednesday of feeling “shocked, uncomfortable” when Mr Kebatu then put his hand on her thigh.<\/p>\n

The woman called the police when, moments later, she saw the man talking to one of the 14-year-old girls.<\/p>\n

Her 999 call to the police was played to the court, in which she could be heard screaming: “Get away from them kids”.<\/p>\n

The trial has been adjourned until 4 September.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lewis Adams BBC News, Essex Reporting fromColchester Magistrates’ Court CPS Hadush Kebatu is accused of trying to kiss a 14-year-old girl in Epping A man accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl insisted: “I am not a wild animal”, as he fought the allegation in court. Hadush Kebatu, from Ethiopia, is accused of telling the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[2990,1337],"class_list":["post-36059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uk","tag-animal","tag-wild"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36059"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36061,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36059\/revisions\/36061"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}