A sex offender's wrongful release from prison caused his teenage victim “so much stress and anxiety”, her father said as he condemned the mistake as “incredibly irresponsible”.
Hadush Kebatu, who was jailed for a year in September for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, was wrongly released from HMP Chelmsford on Friday morning, rather than an immigration detention centre.
The migrant, who was staying at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, during the attack, traveled from Chelmsford to London before being arrested in Finsbury Park on Sunday morning.
In a statement read out by Epping Forest District Council (EFDC) independent councilor Shane Yerrell, the victim's father said his traumatized daughter had slowly regained her confidence after the events.
“Friday's news has caused her so much stress and anxiety,” he said.
“She was afraid of seeing him on the highway again and that he would recognize her. I am really concerned for my daughter's mental health and well-being because of this attack.
“This man is a real danger to young women and children. It is incredibly irresponsible that he is wrongfully released and walking the streets just four months after committing two assaults, just five weeks after being sentenced, all because of a system error on Friday.”
Hadush Kebatu's teenage victim said to be 'stressed and worried' over his wrongful release (Metropolitan Police/PA) (Metropolitan Police)
He said the entire family feels “massively abandoned and enraged” by the prison, police, justice system and government.
“They all failed, not just us as a family, but they failed everyone in the country,” the father said.
“I had to find out from a reporter that my daughter's attacker had been accidentally released that day, and then receive images and videos of him walking around all day before the police even alerted her mother.
“When I went to HMP Chelmsford later that day to seek answers, I was greeted with hostility and complete disregard for anything I said or asked, with complete disrespect for me and my family.”
The father, who expressed hope that Kebatu will be deported “immediately”, also said he feared the sex offender would hurt someone else.
“If anything had happened to another child or woman it would have been a matter for HMP Chelmsford, but also for the police, the justice system and our Labor government,” he said.
The Department of Justice has been contacted for comment.
The Bell Hotel, where Kebatu lived before his conviction, became the focal point of demonstrations and counter-protests this summer following his criminal indictment, eventually leading to demonstrations outside hotels housing asylum seekers across the country.
A group of around 60 protesters carrying union and St George's flags gathered outside the hotel in Essex on Sunday evening.
The Bell Hotel became the focal point of demonstrations and counter-protests this summer (Lucy North/PA) (PA)
The hotel is at the center of an ongoing High Court battle between EFDC and Somani Hotels, owner of the Bell.
The council is currently waiting to see whether it has been successful in its bid to obtain a High Court order banning asylum seekers from being housed there.
EFDC launched legal proceedings claiming that housing asylum seekers there breaches planning rules, and the company is opposing the claim.
The Home Office intervened in the case, telling the court that the council's bid was “misconceived”.
The Bell has been used to house single adult men since April. Lawyers for the Ministry of the Interior told the court that around 95 people currently live there.
It first housed asylum seekers from May 2020 to March 2021 and housed single adult men from October 2022 to April 2024, with no enforcement action taken by the council.
In mid-August, EFDC was granted a provisional injunction, but this was overturned by the Court of Appeal later that month.
