Sri Lankan man found guilty of exposing himself to staff at asylum seeker hotel
A Sri Lankan man has been found guilty of exposing himself after assaulting two members of staff at a hotel for asylum seekers.
Sukirthan Thangrasha was convicted by a jury at Portsmouth Crown Court of one count of exposure following the incident at the Highfield House Hotel in Southampton, Hampshire, on August 15 2025.
The court heard that the 38-year-old, who was assisted in court by a Tamil interpreter, had previously pleaded guilty to two charges of assault against two members of staff.
Jack Furness, prosecuting, told the trial: “At that time the defendant was staying in accommodation for asylum seekers.
“He came down to the reception area of the accommodation, he was angry his phone was not working.
“He was verbally abusive to members of staff, he demanded that they fix the phone for him, he threw the phone at the reception desk.
“He said words to the effect of ‘I am from Sri Lanka, you small men are from India and Pakistan, you should respect me.
“Members of staff tried to calm the defendant down. The defendant approached a plant pot, he made some attempt to pull the plant out of the pot, he then pulled his trousers down.
“First time he left his underwear on, he lifted his top to expose his torso, he started walking around like this. The staff told him to stop and he did ultimately pull up his trousers.
“Shortly later, the defendant pulls his trousers down again along with his underpants thus exposing his genitals to the people around him, he exposed himself in front of multiple other people.”
The prosecutor said that one of the staff members reported feeling “scared” that the defendant would attack him and Thangrasha had admitted assaults on him and another staff member. Mr Furness said CCTV showed the incident and the defendant did not deny exposing himself but denied intending to cause alarm or distress by doing so.
Judge William Ashworth adjourned the case for Thangrasha, who has previous convictions for assaulting emergency workers, battery and shoplifting, to be sentenced on a date to be fixed.