An arrest warrant has been issued for a migrant hotel resident who failed appearing at court after being convicted in absentia of assaulting a teenage girl he approached offering whisky, cannabis and cocaine at a Dorset holiday park.
Thabani Maposa, 45, was found guilty of assault by beating following the incident at Weymouth’s Seaview Holiday Park just before midnight on 23 May last year, with magistrates concluding the victim’s testimony was “credible” despite his non-appearance at proceedings.
The asylum seeker—residing at Bournemouth’s Roundhouse Hotel approximately 30 miles from the holiday park—encountered a group of children aged 12-15 after knocking on their caravan door claiming his young family occupied the adjacent unit and requesting they reduce noise levels.
Despite the group’s compliance, Maposa invited himself inside and proceeded offering illicit substances whilst instructing children on physical contact signals indicating their preferred drugs, using the 14-year-old victim as his unwilling demonstrator.
The girl testified he grabbed her shoulder demonstrating the cannabis signal before seizing her waist for whisky and cocaine requests, pulling her close whilst she felt “really scared” wondering “what was going to happen.”
“He was a tall, muscular black man who spoke English with an accent but he was understandable,” the victim stated. “I didn’t want him to touch me. I could feel his body next to me.”
An older boy emerging from a separate caravan room upon hearing the interaction told Maposa to leave in explicit terms, throwing his jacket outside before locking the door once he retrieved it.
Another witness confirmed: “He started touching her on the hip and shoulder. I could tell she was uncomfortable in that situation.”
Maposa denied the assault during police interviews, claiming he requested adult supervision given the group’s noise whilst dismissing concerns about their substance use as “everyone was doing it at the holiday park,” insisting he remained only five minutes without touching anyone.
Magistrate chair Martyn McCarthy stated: “We give credence to the fact that there was touching as both (girls who gave evidence) were credible witnesses.”
Prosecutor Elizabeth Valera noted the children—permitted alcohol by parents during their holiday—had been drinking when Maposa appeared uninvited, with his nationality and immigration status not revealed during proceedings.
The Roundhouse Hotel has become a criminal hotspot, with scores of residents facing charges including two Egyptians jailed this month for operating county lines drug networks from their rooms, whilst Tunisian and Libyan migrants received sentences last year for chasing staff with knives over meal dissatisfaction.
Locals claim young women feel unsafe in Bournemouth given concentrations of lone male asylum seekers accommodated at taxpayer expense.
