The father of the 14-year-old girl sexually assaulted by a migrant in Epping, who was detained and subsequently wrongfully released, has revealed the impact the disgraceful ordeal has had on the family.
Hadush Kebatu was found guilty of touching and trying to kiss the schoolgirl during two encounters in Epping on July 7 and 8. In total, he was found guilty of five offences, including sexually assaulting another woman.
It is understood the cases occurred just days into his stay at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Kent, following his arrival across the Channel on a small boat.
While he was sentenced to 12 months behind bars, the Ethiopian national was accidentally freed instead of being sent to an immigration removal centre after just one month.
The resulting two-day manhunt ended in Kebatu being deported back without a right of return.
After hearing of his mistaken release from prison, the girl revealed she felt "put in danger all over again".
"I think it’s disgusting how me and my family have been treated in all of this, and it’s not fair that he was released by accident," she said in a statement.
"I feel like I was put in danger all over again, and all of the feelings from the day it happened came back."
Hadush Kebatu has since been deported back to Ethiopia after a two-day manhunt
| ESSEX POLICEThe girl’s father has now also slammed Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the "disgusting" Labour Government over their failure to even extend apologies to the girl after the lamentable mistaken release.
"She was getting better until last weekend. All I can do now is try and pick up the pieces that the government will keep breaking of my daughter," the father told ITV News.
"All they do is keep breaking us as a family. Like from July, from that very first phone call until now, we've just been let down relentlessly, time and time again.
"We haven't had a single apology from the Government. We haven't had a single apology or any recognition whatsoever.
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"It's just been failure after failure after failure. And, you know, I'm disappointed. More than anything, I'm disgusted."
The crimes committed by Kebatu caused huge outrage within the community and sparked major protests. The father made it clear he did not "condone" such action, but feels there is a lingering sense of injustice.
"I don't condone a single bit of that. I don't want any fighting, I don't want any violence. I'm not racist, I'm not prejudiced. I never have been, and I never will be," he continued.
"There's been no justice served, absolutely nothing. Seventeen weeks from the day he was arrested to the day he was deported. Seventeen weeks. Disgusting.
Multiple protests took place in the summer around the Bell Hotel in Epping, where an asylum seeker was charged and later jailed for sexual assault | GETTY"There's no justice system. It's such a shame that we've been treated the way we have and we've had no help, no nothing."
Speaking to GB News, the family's spokesman, Councillor Shane Yurrell, said: "They have come to the point now where they just wanted to say something and express how she's feeling. They've all struggled, all of the family, in particular the parents."
The 14-year-old highlighted in a statement of her own the shock that Kebatu was reportedly paid £500 to cooperate in his deportation, while the victim's family continue to pay for her counselling following the attack.
"We found out he was being deported, and I was being told by everybody that he got paid £500," she explained.
"When I got home, I just cried because I felt like he got paid for what he had done to me.
"I didn’t want to be in Epping because I was so scared I was going to see him and he would recognise me."
The Ministry of Justice said that Prisons Minister Lord Timpson has offered to meet with the family in response to the outcry.
An investigation has also been launched into the wrongful release of Kebatu.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch took to social media to express her concerns and deep dissatisfaction with how Government had dealt with the incident.
"Heartbreaking. And entirely predictable," she wrote on X.
"When questioned in Parliament about this harrowing scandal, the Justice Secretary laughed, knowing he hadn’t even called the victim’s family. Shameful.
"Labour still won’t say sorry, still won’t admit they’re wrong, and the British public are paying the price.
"A dangerous offender was freed instead of deported. Others already deported are walking back in.
"Only Conservatives have a real plan to secure our borders and keep Britain safe."
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