‘Toilet spy’ jailed for watching girl
A PERVERT who was caught spying on a teenage girl in a supermarket toilet has been jailed.
Haben Mihretab was hiding in the middle cubicle of the women’s toilets at Tesco in Accrington for 37 minutes when he twice peered over to watch the victim.
The 22-year-old then fled the store before being confronted by the victim and her boyfriend in the town centre.
Mihretab begged them not to report his actions to police and got down on his knees and asked the boyfriend to punch him to ‘make it all right’.
Mihretab, of Lydia Street, Accrington, pleaded guilty at an earlier magistrates hearing to voyeurism.
Burnley Crown Court heard that this was the fifth time the asylum seeker had been convicted of spying on females in public toilets following previous incidents in Wigan and Blackburn for which he had been jailed.
Prosecutor Sara Haque told the court how the defendant was hiding in the middle cubicle of the Tesco women’s toilets when the teenage victim entered.
The court heard that she saw a ‘messy black afro’ showing over the top of the cubicle and initially thought it was a ‘child messing around’.
Ms Haque said she ‘thought nothing of it’ until Mihretab then peered into the cubicle again 10 seconds later.
When the victim shouted ‘oi’ Mihretab left the store and she told her boyfriend and staff what happened.
The court heard that they later saw Mihretab outside Wilko’s and when confronted he initially denied being the man in the toilet. He then claimed he had gone into the wrong toilet before apologising and asking the victim not to tell anyone.
CCTV from Tesco showed the defendant being in the female toilets for 37 minutes. During that time it was used by 18 women and three children, the court heard.
In a victim statement, the teenage girl said she is now ‘nervous of using public conveniences’.
Defence barrister Matthew Haworth said Mihretab’s ‘strongest mitigation’ is his early guilty plea, remorse and that no recording device was used. He said: “He has no family or close-knit friends and leads a fairly isolated life.
“He is an asylum seeker from Eritrea. He had a difficult upbringing with the risk of persecution.”
Judge Nicholas Barker jailed Mihretab for 20 weeks and an indefinite sexual harm prevention order prohibiting the defendant from entering any female toilets.