Man whose arrest sparked asylum hotel protests tells court he did not touch girls

Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu said he had been living in the Bell hotel in Epping for about a week before his arrest. Illustration: Elizabeth Cook/PA Media

An Ethiopian man who became the focus of far-right demonstrations outside a hotel in Epping after being accused of sexually assaulting two teenagers has told a court he did not touch the girls.

“I’m not a wild animal. I can’t do these kind of things,” Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, an asylum seeker housed at the Bell hotel in Epping, told his trial at Colchester magistrates court on Wednesday.