Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Father of a schoolgirl who was later sexually assaulted by an asylum seeker suddenly got out of jail He said his family was “furious” over the mistake.
Hadush KebatuHe was jailed in September for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping, Essex. arrested on sunday morning in Finsbury Park, north London, after being at large for about 48 hours.
Epping Forest councilor Shane Yerrell read a statement on behalf of the schoolgirl’s father on Sunday evening, calling for Kebatu’s release. HMP Chelmsford The system was “incredibly unresponsive” due to the failure.
“As a father, I am devastated that the man who sexually assaulted my 14-year-old daughter just four months ago has been accidentally released from prison and back on the streets,” the statement said. “My family and I are really hurt by the trauma and pain my daughter has gone through since this attack. She is slowly starting to get some of her confidence back.” [and has] “Recently she started seeing her closest friends and came back to school.”
The statement said the schoolgirl was so stressed and worried by the news of Kebatu’s release that she was afraid of being seen and recognized on the street. Her father said he believed Kebatu, 41, was “a real threat to young women and children”.
“For him to be wrongfully released and walk freely on the streets due to a system failure on Friday, just four months after committing two sexual assaults, just five weeks after being sentenced, is incredibly irresponsible,” the statement said.
“They have all failed – not just us as a family, but they have failed everyone in the country.”
The statement revealed that the family had learned from a reporter that Kebatu had been released by mistake, before police alerted them that they were sent photos and videos of the sex offender roaming around throughout the day. The schoolgirl’s father also attended HMP Chelmsford in search of answers, where he said “no matter what I said or asked, I was greeted with hostility and completely ignored, completely disrespected to me and my family”.
The statement called for the immediate deportation of Kebatu, whose crimes led to large protests and counter-demonstrations outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, where he was staying, and eventually in hotels. Housing asylum seekers across the country,
Essex Police said Kebatu boarded a London-bound train at Chelmsford at 12.41pm following his release., He was later seen on CCTV in a library in Dalston Square, east London, at 6pm, when the Metropolitan Police took over the hunt.
On Sunday morning, he was spotted at a bus stop by a member of the public, who called the police at 8.03 am. He was arrested at 8.19 am on charges of being unlawfully at large.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said in a statement on Twitter: “Hadoush Kebatu has been arrested and will be deported. Officers have worked quickly and diligently to bring him back into custody. We have ordered an investigation to establish what went wrong.”
Kebatu was jailed for 12 months in September, and made the subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order for five offences, with a judge warning that he posed a “significant risk of re-offending”. He was also added to the sex offender register for 10 years.