The father of the girl, 14, who is attacked by hadish kebatu hits the ‘rrosconsible’ Justice system
The wrongful acquittal has caused his victim “a lot of stress and anxiety”, his father says as he blames the mistake for being “thoughtless”.
Hadish Kebatu, sentenced in September to one year for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, was released on bail from HMP Chelmsford on Friday morning, instead of the Reading Detention Centre.
The migrant, who was staying at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, at the time of the attack, left Chelmsford in London before his arrest on Sunday morning in Finsbury Park.
In a statement read by Shane Yerrell, an independent councilor for Epping Forestry District Council (EFDC), the victim’s father said his traumatized daughter had been able to regain her confidence after the events.
“Friday’s news has caused him a lot of anxiety and worry,” she said.
“She is afraid to see him and on the main street she saw him. I am really worried about my daughter’s life and my daughter’s life and planning this attack.
“This man is a real danger to young women and children and for him to be unjustly released and walk the streets freely just two months after being sentenced to five weeks, all because of the failure of the program on Friday is unbelievably careless.”
The victim of HadUsh Kebatu is said to be ‘stressed and worried’ about his wrongful release (urban police / police) (urban police)
He said the whole family felt “bitter and let down, angry” at the prison, the police, the justice system and the Government.
“They all failed, not just as a family, but they failed everyone in the country,” said the father.
“I had to find a reporter that my daughter’s attacker was released by accident in a day, he was sent pictures and videos alone that went all day before the police alerted his mother.
“Then later that day I went to read HMP Chelmsford to seek more answers I was greeted with hostility and by the crowd absolutely anything I said or asked, completely unresponsive to me and my family.”
The father, who expressed hope that Kebatu will be deported “soon”, also said he feared that the sex offender would harm someone else.
“If anything had happened to another child or woman at that time it would have been at the hands of HMP Chelmsford, the police and the justice system and our working government,” he said.
The Department of Justice has contacted him for comment.
The Bell Hotel, where Kebatu lived before his conviction, became an important site of protests and counter-protests in the summer following the cases outside Holiya Asylum hotels across the country.
A group of around 60 protesters holding union and St George flags gathered outside the Essex Hotel on Sunday evening.
The Bell Hotel became the focus of demonstrations and counter-protests over the summer (Lucy North / PA) (PA)
The hotel is at the center of an ongoing high court battle between EFDC and Somalia Hotels, which owns steel.
The council is currently waiting to find out whether it has been successful in its bid to prevent asylum seekers from being housed there.
EFDC has launched legal action saying it accepts asylum seekers in breach of planning rules, and the company is contesting the claim.
The Home Office intervened in the case, telling the court that the Council’s bid was “nonexistent”.
The Bell has been used to house single elderly men since April, with Home Office officials telling the court it currently houses around 95 people.
It started for asylum seekers from May 2020 to March 2021 and accommodated single elderly men from October 2022 to April 2024, with the Council taking no enforcement action.
EFDC was granted an interim injunction in mid-August but this was overturned in court later.
