Channay Augustus admits affray in asylum hotel meat cleaver case

Snaresbrook Crown Court hears 22-year-old Channay Augustus admit affray after hotel clash linked to asylum seeker row, with trial set over knife allegations.

Channay Augustus, the 22-year-old woman accused of storming a hotel housing asylum seekers in east London with a meat cleaver, has admitted affray at Snaresbrook Crown Court.

The plea came as part of ongoing proceedings into an incident that followed her discovery of an intruder inside her blind mother’s flat near the Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf, a case first reported by Video Production News when she was initially remanded into custody at Thames Magistrates’ Court last month.

Appearing by videolink, Augustus entered a guilty plea to affray but denied charges of threatening another person with a bladed article and assaulting an emergency worker. She also previously admitted possession of cannabis. A trial on the remaining allegations has been listed for 29 June 2026.

The court heard Augustus was part of a group of around 20 people who went to the Britannia Hotel on 13 August. Prosecutors allege she confronted a security guard before returning armed with a meat cleaver, which she was seen striking against a metal barrier while making remarks about asylum seekers. The common assault count relates to the security guard present during the confrontation.

Earlier that day, Augustus discovered a man inside her mother’s ground-floor flat, just minutes from the hotel. She alleged the man, believed to be an asylum seeker in his twenties, had entered unlawfully and was acting indecently. Police later confirmed that a suspect was arrested in Hackney on suspicion of common assault in connection with that incident and remains on remand.

Video Production News has already detailed the legal complexities of this case, including the circumstances of Augustus’s initial remand and the attempted fundraising effort which followed.

A GoFundMe page established by a friend to cover her defence costs was removed after being found to contravene the platform’s terms of service.

GoFundMe rules expressly prohibit raising money for the defence of charges involving weapons, violent offences or hate-related conduct. While fundraising is permitted for civil litigation or certain non-violent cases, it cannot be used to underwrite legal costs arising from alleged criminal activity of this seriousness.

District Judge Jane McIvor had earlier refused bail at the magistrates’ court, committing the case to the Crown Court on the basis of the seriousness of the allegations and the risk presented.

The guilty plea to affray narrows the issues for trial but still leaves Augustus facing significant exposure to custodial sentencing if she is convicted on the outstanding charges, particularly in relation to the alleged possession of a bladed article in public, which under current sentencing guidelines is treated as a serious offence.