Pervert guilty of sexually assaulting 'terrified' 12-year-old girl in Leeds tower-block lift
A pervert groped and kissed a terrified schoolgirl in a lift, a jury has decided.
Emmanuel Opoku Nsiah was convicted of sexual assault following a three-day trial at Leeds Crown Court.
The jury returned a unanimous verdict and Judge Howard Crowson ordered a probation report to be prepared before he is sentenced. Nsiah was given bail.
During the trial is was heard that the girl had been returning from school on March 27, 2023, entered the building where she lived with her family and waited for the lift.
A second woman was also waiting, while the young girl let Nsiah into the building through the locked, fob-accessed front door.
CCTV was played to the court from the lobby of the building in Leeds, and from the lift.
All three entered the left, with the woman getting out first, leaving Nsiah alone with the girl.
The 51-year-old struck up a conversation, bizarrely asking if they could be friends.
The girl was nervous and said “yes” to not upset him. He told her he liked her school uniform and asked to meet her the next day. She agreed again out of fear.
He then moved towards, put his hands around her waist and kissed her on the cheek.
The girl then arrived at her floor and left the lift, but could see Nsiah smiling at her. She immediately told her father who contacted the police.
In a video-recorded interview with the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, she told officers: “I could feel my heart beating, I was really scared. I did not know what to do.”
Nsiah, of no fixed address, accepted he was in the lift but denied his actions were sexual, and that he only “air kissed” the girl.
However, the jury did not believe his account. He will return to court on July 8 to learn his sentence.