Abdulbasit appeared in court to deny sexually assaulting a 16-year-old on a coach trip to London, and he pleaded not guilty to an allegation of exposure against the same complainant. Prosecutors allege that Abdulbasit made his move against his fellow passenger shortly after the coach had left Birmingham for London. The 16-year-old reported the alleged offences to the driver, and Abdulbasit was arrested at the Rugby Moto service area on the M6. The alleged incident took place on February 18, and Abdulbasit had been held in custody since the alleged incident until his court hearing.
A trial date was set to hear the case in November 2028, expected to last three to four days. Abdulbasit was observed weeping in the dock at the start of the hearing, and he spoke through an Arabic-Egyptian interpreter and clutched a copy of the Koran to his chest. He was under the care of Birmingham Children’s Trust and arrived in the UK 18 months ago. Judge Simon Ash KC granted Abdulbasit conditional bail, noting he had no previous convictions. The conditions of bail were that he must not contact either the complainant or the coach driver, live at a designated address in Birmingham, and report twice a week to a nearby police station. Abdulbasit confirmed through his barrister that he had no passport and was forbidden from applying for one or for any international travel documents, and Judge Ash warned Abdulbasit that if he committed any offences while on bail he would be taken into custody.
In other asylum seeker cases, Thabani Maposa, an asylum seeker housed at the Roundhouse Hotel in Bournemouth, was convicted of assault by beating after he failed to attend his court hearing, according to multiple reports. Maposa is now on the run, and he was found guilty of assaulting a teenage girl at a Dorset holiday park after offering a group of children alcohol and Class A drugs, according to multiple reports.
Abdinasir Elmi, a 26-year-old Somali asylum seeker and long-distance runner, has been cleared of sexually assaulting a teenage girl, according to multiple reports. Elmi once allegedly trained alongside Olympic champion Mo Farah, according to multiple reports, and he faced two counts of sexual assault against an 18-year-old woman, according to multiple reports.