Leeds park pervert grabbed terrified 12-year-old as she walked home from school
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The 12-year-old was attacked by Tawanda Mhlanga as she made her way through Cross Flatts Park after leaving school.
Leeds Crown Court heard that 46-year-old Mhlanga was a failed asylum seeker from Zimbabwe and had been living illegally in the UK for two decades.
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Prosecutor David McGonigal said the girl, who was in her school uniform, had been making her way through the Beeston park on the afternoon of June 6, 2022.
Mhlanga was present and was walking the opposite way, but changed direction when he saw her. The girl later said he was smiling at her before approaching and speaking, asking her name and where her family were from.
Calling her “beautiful”, he then put his arms around her, through the straps of her school bag and squeezed her buttocks, lifting her up so she was on her tiptoes.
He did this twice, before asking her for a pen and paper and writing his mobile number down.
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Hide AdHe said she could ring him anytime and suggested they meet a few days later, telling her he would buy her gifts.
When he let go, the girl ran home and told her sister, who rang the number. Mhlanga answered and lied, saying he was 18, but apologised for his behaviour.
Mhlanga, of Longroyd View, Beeston, was identified through his DNA on the pen he had used.
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Hide AdHowever, he was only traced on July 23 this year after an unrelated matter. He was found to be a carrying a Stanley knife at the time which he was said he used at work.
Appearing in court this week via video link from HMP Hull, where he was being held on remand, he admitted two counts of sexual assault and one of possessing a bladed article.
Mitigating, Emily Hassell said Mhlanga had come to the UK in 2002 and claimed asylum, but was rejected. He then stayed in the country illegally and was even jailed in 2006 for wounding.
He was taken to a deportation centre but says he was detained there for five years before being inexplicably released. He had been working at a scrap yard illegally prior to his arrest.
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Hide AdShe said Mhlanga’s remorse was “very clear” but found it difficult to talk about his offending.
Judge Penelope Belcher said of the incident: “Unsurprisingly, she was scared and thought something bad was going to happen. It was a thoroughly, thoroughly frightening incident for a 12-year-old girl to be stopped by an older man.”
She jailed him for two years. She also gave him a 10-year restraining order, a 10-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) and put him on the sex offender register for 10 years.