Father of 14-year-old girl assaulted by Epping sex offender says government has ‘relentlessly’ failed family
The father of a 14-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted by an asylum seeker in Essex said the government had “cruelly” failed his family and they had been “denied justice”.
Hadush Kebatu, an Ethiopian citizen, was imprisoned for sexually assaulting a teenager and a woman in September.
He was sentenced to one year in prison, but was accidentally released a month later. An independent investigation has since been launched into his wrongful release, led by Dame Lynne Owens.
Following a two-day manhunt, Kebatu was re-arrested in Finsbury Park, north London, on 26 October after traveling from Chelmsford to the capital. He was deported two days later, but only after he was given £500 when he threatened to disrupt the process.
His daughter’s father, who spoke anonymously to protect his identity, said the government’s handling of the case “broke us as a family.”
“She was recovering until last weekend. All I can do now is try to pick up the pieces that the government will break my daughter with,” he told ITV News.
He added: “All they do is continue to break us down as a family. “Since July, from our first phone call until today, we have been brutally let down, over and over again.
“We have not received a single apology from the government, not a single apology or any appreciation.
“It was failure after failure. And, you know, I was disappointed. I was just so disgusted with everything.”
The teenager also made a written statement to the broadcaster, saying she “couldn’t sleep” because she was “so worried he was going to come back to Epping looking for me”.
“I didn’t want to be in Epping because I was so afraid I would see him and he would recognize me,” she said.
The girl’s statement continued: “I think the way I and my family have been treated in this whole thing is disgusting and I don’t think it’s fair that he was accidentally released.
“I feel like I’m in danger again and all the emotions from that day come back.”
Kebatu’s attack on the girl sparked nationwide protests outside hotels housing refugees throughout the summer, some of which turned violent.
The girl’s father condemned the violence and added: “I do not approve even a bit of this. I do not want a fight, I do not want violence. I am not a racist, I am not prejudiced. I never have been, I never will be.
“There was no justice, absolutely nothing. Seventeen weeks from the day he was arrested to the day he was deported. Seventeen weeks. Disgusting.
“There is no justice system. It’s a shame that we were treated this way and there was no help, nothing.”
As a result, the Ministry of Justice said prisons minister James Timpson offered to meet with representatives of the family.
Speaking in the House of Commons on Wednesday, deputy prime minister and justice minister David Lammy apologized for the concern caused to the family.
Mr Lammy said: “I have apologized for the concern caused while Kebatu was at large, and I reiterate that.
“And it is extremely important that Dame Lynne Owens now gets to the bottom of what happened through further investigation.”
