'They've failed the country': Father of teenager attacked by wrongfully released sex offender 'let down' by authorities
Speaking after learning of the prisoner's release, the family of the victim say HMP Chelmsford, police and Labour all have questions to answer
The father of Hadush Kebatu’s teenage victim has said HMP Chelmsford, police and Labour all have questions to answer following the prisoner's wrongful release.
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Speaking shortly before the prisoner was re-captured, the victim's father said he was only alerted to the prisoner’s mistaken release after a reporter approached him or a response.
Speaking on Sunday, he recounted how, upon travelling to HMP Chelmsford for answers, he was “greeted with hostility” by officers.
He said in a statement read out by councillor Shane Yerrell: “Myself and my family feel massively let down and infuriated by HMP Chelmsford, the police, the justice system and our Labour Government.
"They have all failed, not just us as a family, but they have failed everyone in the country."
Hadush Kebatu was arrested in the Finsbury Park area of north London at around 8.30am after three days on the run, Scotland Yard said.
The Ethiopian national was jailed for 12 months in September for the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl and was wrongly freed from HMP Chelmsford on Friday morning instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre.
Speaking following the wrongful release, the victim's father continued: “I had to find out from a reporter that my daughter’s attacker was accidentally released in the day, then be sent images and videos of him walking around throughout the day before the police even alerted her mother.
"Then later that day when I attended HMP Chelmsford to seek some answers I was greeted with hostility and complete disregard for anything I said or asked, totally disrespecting me and my family.”
He continued: “I really hope that nobody else’s child has to experience what my daughter has. I really feared that this could happen again while Hadush Kebatu was freely walking around the streets of Chelmsford and London over the weekend.
“I hope he will be deported immediately.
“If anything had happened to another child or female then that would have been on the heads of HMP Chelmsford, as well as the police and the justice system and our Labour Government.”
The Government plans to deport him this week, with speculation that it could come as soon Tuesday.
But David Lammy, the deputy prime minister, said he requires further questioning "to get to the bottom" of the catastrophic mistake.
"It's right that he's questioned by the police following his route from Essex into London," Mr Lammy said.