ASYLUM SEEKER WHO POSED AS CHILD TO ENTER UK GROPED SCHOOLGIRL
A man who falsely presented himself as a minor upon arriving in the UK has been convicted and sentenced to prison after inappropriately touching a teenage girl.Meron Habtu entered the United Kingdom illegally from Eritrea in 2020, deceiving authorities into believing he was a young person so he could be placed with a host family.
In reality, he was 24 years old.
Now aged 29, Habtu sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl on a train in September 2022, a year following an incident involving another woman.
He received a 12-month prison term at Poole magistrates’ court.
Initially claiming to be 17 years old, Habtu was accommodated with a family in Upwey, Weymouth, Dorset.
A year later, while intoxicated, he assaulted another woman in Weymouth after allegedly bothering females exiting bars and clubs.
Following his release on bail, Habtu was involved in another sexual assault, this time groping the teenage girl as she exited a train bathroom en route from Bournemouth to Weymouth.
According to court reports, Habtu pressed her against the carriage wall, complimented her appearance, and said, “All my friends call me the tracker.” He sexually touched her three or four times despite her attempts to escape.
A probation officer said Habtu posed a “high risk of serious harm” to women and girls, and that he “sought out vulnerable females”.
District judge Orla Austin said that after he was released it would be up to the authorities to decide whether he should be deported, adding: “I am told that they are aware of you.” Habtu, who appeared by video link from prison, kept interrupting the judge and, after several warnings, she ended the link and finished sentencing in his absence.
Leah Dillon, prosecuting, called Habtu a “predator acting in broad daylight” and said: “He was drunk, she was 15, she told him that but he carried on.” Nearly four years on from the assault, his victim said she still felt unsafe on public transport.
Ms Dillon read a statement in which she said she was “constantly terrified and on edge while travelling”.
Habtu denied responsibility for the assault but was convicted of sexually abusing a minor after a trial conducted in April.
At the sentencing hearing, he maintained his innocence.
Using a Tigrinya interpreter, he stated: “I didn’t touch her.
I am not guilty.
I know how to live with the community and how to treat women.” The judge, however, expressed skepticism about his claims that he had accidentally bumped into the victim, noting that the girls’ testimonies were consistent and supported by CCTV footage from the train.
The court also heard that when Habtu was previously sentenced in February 2023 for a sexual assault in 2021, he was placed on the sex offender register for five years.
However, he failed to meet the registration requirements on three occasions in 2024 and the following year.
The judge commented that he had shown no remorse and was classified as a high risk to women.
She concluded that his risk level was unmanageable within the community.
As part of his sentence, Habtu was ordered to remain on the register for an additional ten years and was issued a sexual harm prevention order for five years, barring him from contact with girls under 16 and women generally.
