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WATCH: Martin Daubney breaks down in tears as he details Epping asylum seeker assault on teenage girl
Sep 4, 2025
GB News host Martin Daubney struggles to hold back tears as he reports on an Epping hotel migrant being found guilty of sexual assault.Breaking the news that Ethiopian migrant Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu has been found guilty on two counts of sexual assault, Martin admitted he was "struggling to hold it together".FULL STORY HERE.
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But Jimmy's got some breaking news for you now, and it's a major story
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The asylum seeker Hadash Gurbislasi Kabatu, 38, has been found guilty as Chelmsford Medistrates Court
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was sexually assaulting a woman and a 14-year-old girl in Epping, Essex
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days after arriving in the UK on a small boat. Now, this incident was the one, of course
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that sparked all of the protests in Epping. This was the incident that caused people to take to the streets
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Just to report, repeat that breaking news, a major piece of breaking news today
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the asylum seeker Hadash Gerbislasi Kabartou, aged 38, he's been found guilty at Chelmsford Magistrates Court
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of sexually assaulting a woman and a 14-year-old girl, a child, in Epping, Essex
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just days after arriving in the UK on a small boat. You can see CCTV footage there of him being apprehended by Essex police and of him being arrested, found guilty there on two counts
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And this, of course, precipitated those protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, where this individual was a resident
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kick-started a huge conversation nationwide about who are these people who walk among us
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what are their backgrounds, their propensity to sexually offend. And here we have it
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Guilty on two counts. Asylum seeker Hadasz Gerbislas-Ikabatu, 38, found guilty at Chelmsford Magistrates Court
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of sexually assaulting a woman and a 14-year-old girl, a child, in Epping, Essex
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just days after arriving in the UK on a small boat. He was an Ethiopian national
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He was alleged to have attempted to kiss the teenager and put his hand on her thigh
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and he brushed her hair in July as she offered him a pizza on a park bench
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Now, an adult member of the public also accused Kabartu of trying to kiss her
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put his hand on her leg and telling her she was pretty. This was just days after he arrived on a small boat, an illegal immigrant from Ethiopia
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He claimed to be a teacher of sports in his home country
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He initially had denied those two counts of sexual assault. One count of attempted a sexual assault and one count of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity
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And also one count of harassment without finding. But today, magistrates have found this creature guilty
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Hadash Gubislati Kabartu 38 found guilty at Chelmsford. Magistrates Court of sexually assaulting a woman
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and a 14-year-old girl, a schoolgirl in Epping. Sorry, I get very emotional about things like this
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It just a 14 girl on a bench who was having pizza Let get now to our man our national reporter Charlie Peters
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who joins us from outside the court. Charlie, over to you. Well, Martin, we've just been told that Hadash Kabartu
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the Ethiopian smallboat migrant, found guilty of sexually assaulting a teenage girl will be sentenced on the 23rd of September at this court, Chelmsford Magistrates
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Court. And as I was leaving court just now, the district judge, Christopher Williams
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warned him to expect an immediate custodial sentence, adding, it is just a question now
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of how long. There was no reaction from Kabatu in the dock as the judgment was handing down
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And that verdict lasting nearly an hour for the district judge to come to his conclusions
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summing up the two-day trial from last week and the prosecution and defence cases that he reheard earlier this afternoon
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Now, Kabartu sat in the dock with one hand on his face wearing a prison-issued grey tracksuit
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and remained motionless as he heard the deliberations from the prosecution and the Defence Council
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through an interpreter, a Tingria interpreter, which is a language which is commonly found in Ethiopia
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and parts of Eritrea. But he's been found guilty of all charges against him
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That is the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl, the sexual assault of a woman
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and attempting a sexual assault of a girl, inciting that girl to engage in sexual activity
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and harassment of the girl without violence. It was a nervous courtroom towards the conclusion
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Suddenly, the room fell silent as Christopher Williams gave his conclusions. As I say, after nearly an hour of summarising the verdict
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you could feel that tension. One member of the gallery sitting near him
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he said that he was a friend of one of those children's fathers
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He was reacting very nervously as that judgment was about to come through
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A gallery packed with journalists and the judge saying that he was aware of the significant press and public interest attention in this case
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Now, as he summarized his verdict, the judge Christopher Williams says that he was not persuaded of the conspiracy that was claimed by the defendant against him
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Mr. Kabartu said that the woman who had accused him of sexual assault had engaged with the 14-year-old girl and her friends to conspire against him, saying they made up the allegations after encountering him
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The judge said though that he wasn persuaded by any evidence to support that and that there was no basis in claims that the children fabricated the accounts they gave There were three different children giving evidence as witnesses in this case
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He said that some of the inconsistencies between their accounts make it even less likely
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that they concocted their evidence together to generate a conspiracy. When he also came towards that conclusion, the judge said that it was clear and consistent
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that Mr Kabartu had spoken to the children. But as he went through the reason for finding those guilty verdicts
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and all five of those counts, he pointed to the fact that Mr Kabartu had not given any comments
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during his police interview before later relying on a different account of what had happened in the court
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He said that this had gone against him. Now, the district judge, Christopher Williams, also said
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that because there were no previous convictions against Kobatu, Haddish Kobatu, the Ethiopian
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small boat migrant asylum seeker being held in the Epping Hotel, the Bell Hotel, he said that he was
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technically of good character. He said this because the prosecution, the Crown, had gone to great
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lengths to check with the countries that he had passed through on the way to Britain to see if he
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had any outstanding or any claims against him through the court systems in any of those countries
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And he said that despite those great efforts, they had not been able to find any evidence of previous criminal history
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Now, we didn't learn which countries he had gone through or how long his journey had taken
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although we did learn today that he had been a teacher in Ethiopia
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So both the prosecution and defence asserting that he was of good character, which the judge said he considered during his judgment
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We also went back during that almost hour of summarising the evidence of what happened in Chelmsford Magistrates Court to the moment of Kabartu's arrest on the 8th of July
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Now, the judge said that there was no DNA belonging to the 14-year-old girl found on his hands after they were swabbed by Essex police
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Now, a prepared statement was read on behalf of Kabartu during a head of a police interview where he eventually gave no comment
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And the prepared statement said that Kabartu was at the locations that each of the alleged offences took place, but that he didn't commit them
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And again, they asserted that he was of good character. But the judge here today finding that the evidence against him was overwhelming with these individual witness accounts by the children and also the woman that he was found guilty of sexually assaulting
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Now Christopher Williams as he gave his remarks as he as he concluded his remarks he saw Mr Kovato being taken away led down to the cells by two security guards He be held on remand in prison until his sentencing which will take place on the 23rd of September
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in just a few weeks' time. There was quite a significant buzz of tension inside that room
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Martin, not just because of the severity of what was taking place inside Chelmsford's
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magistrates court regarding those allegations, now guilty charges of sexually assaulting a teenage
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girl, but also because of the wider public interest in this case. Because, Martin, of course
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so much anger and focus has been directed in Epping and around the country as a consequence
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of these offences now confirmed by District Judge Christopher Williams. You could sense almost that
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The judge knew that there was possibly more interest in the judgment he was giving
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than had ever been given before and may ever be given because of how vital this case has been to policing law and order
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and the wider political debate in this country. But he's down in the cells now and he'll be sentenced at this court again
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on the 23rd of September as Hedush Kabatu, an Ethiopian small boat migrant
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asylum seeker has been found guilty of five charges, including the sexual assault of a
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14-year-old girl, the sexual assault of a woman, the attempted sexual assault of the
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same girl, inciting that girl to engage in sexual activity, harassment of the girl without
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violence, guilty on all five counts, and set for an immediate custodial sentence on the
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23rd of September. You know, Charlie Peters, it's comforting and sobering that justice has been served
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I feel really upset about this case, you know, because this is a 14-year-old girl
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I'm trying my best to keep it together here. And The Guardian are still reporting on this
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as precipitating far-right protests. You're not far-right if you object to a schoolgirl
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being sexually approached by an Ethiopian illegal immigrant. And Charlie Peters is coming out here in court
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Molly Dias, defending Kabato, asked the girl if she had made up allegations
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because she was angry that Kabato was an asylum seeker. And the girl replied, I didn't make up any allegation
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I know exactly what I saw. I have no issue with asylum seekers. I was angry that he had touched a 14-year-old girl
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What an incredibly grim ordeal. Not only to have to go through in person, Charlie Peters
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but to be put through in court like that. And I suspect, Charlie Peters, this will be the beginning of a huge national conversation, not only just about this case, but this was what precipitated those protests in Epping and indeed nationwide
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And Charlie Peters, a lot of people will be asking big questions about who walks amongst us and how safe are all of our children
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