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Man gets 3 years for having sex with 14-year-old
A FAILED asylum seeker has been jailed for three years after having sex with a 14-year-old who he met on the street in Leeds.
The victim was in her school uniform on a lunch break when she waved at Awet Gerezgiher who was 19-years-old at the time.
The girl began chatting to Gerezgiher, who was living just outside Leeds city centre, and the pair walked to his flat on February 20, 2007.
Once inside, Gerezgiher began touching the girl but stopped when she told him to.
For the prosecution Michael Smith said: "He did stop touching her and then pulled down his trousers and asked her to do the same.
"She was asked why she did that and she said she thought if she didn't she would get in trouble with police and the school."
The court heard that the girl then asked for sex and unprotected intercourse took place.
She then left the flat, told an adult and the police were called.
Gerezgiher was not traced until March 2009 when he was arrested for an unrelated offence and his DNA matched.
The court heard he is from Eritrea, in Africa, and claimed asylum in the UK in 2005 until being deported – but he returned illegally.
Gerezgiher, who is now 22 and has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a child.
Nicholas Lumley defending said Gerezgiher did not target the girl who had started the conversation and asked for sex.
He said: "I concede she's a vulnerable victim but that was not known to him. In many ways she came to him, trouble came to his door."
Jailing him, the Recorder of Leeds Judge Peter Collier QC said the Home Office had served deportation papers on Gerezgiher adding it was likely he would be automatically sent back at the end of his sentence.
He was ordered to sign the sex offender's register for life.
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Wednesday 08 February 2012
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