Girl sexually assaulted by Kebatu felt ‘in danger again’ after mistaken release

A teenage girl who was sexually assaulted by migrant Hadush Kebatu said she felt “put in danger all over again” by his mistaken release.

The girl added that she thought a £500 payment Kebatu received after he threatened to mount a legal challenge against his removal was “like he got paid for what he had done to me”.

In a statement to ITV News, which was read by Epping Forest district councillor Shane Yerrell, the girl said she was “scared and so anxious” after hearing of his mistaken release.

The girl, who was 14 at the time of the assault, said: “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.

“And I feel like I was put in danger all over again and all of the feelings from the day it happened came back.

“We found out he was being deported, and I was being told by everybody that he got paid £500.

“When I got home I just cried because I felt like he got paid for what he had done to me.”

The girl added: “I didn’t want to be in Epping because I was so scared I was going to see him and he would recognise me.”

Kebatu had been living at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, when he sexually assaulted the girl and a woman, sparking a wave of protests outside the accommodation used to house asylum seekers.

His trial heard he had made inappropriate comments to a 14-year-old girl before trying to kiss her on July 7, just eight days after his arrival in the UK.

The following day, Kebatu sexually assaulted a woman by attempting to kiss her, placing his hand on her leg, and telling her she was “pretty”.

He denied the charges against him but was found guilty of five offences and sentenced in September to 12 months in custody, including the time he had already spent in jail awaiting his trial.

Kebatu was then wrongly freed from HMP Chelmsford last month instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre, triggering a two-day manhunt.

The Ethiopian national was forcibly removed to his home country on October 28 with a team of five escorts on the flight, and arrived on Wednesday morning with no right to return to Britain, the Home Office said.