The migrant imprisoned for sexual assaults and released by mistake was caught by the British police. Who is Hadush Kebatu?
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu. Credit line: Crown Prosecution Service / PA Images / Profimedia
The migrant asylum seeker, who was mistakenly released from prison for sexual assault, has been found in north London and detained following a large-scale search operation, the Metropolitan Police announced on Sunday, the BBC reports.
Hadush Kebatu was found in the Finsbury Park area at 08:30 local time on Sunday morning, two days after he was mistakenly released from Chelmsford Prison in Essex County.
Kebatu was convicted last month of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping while living in a hotel for asylum seekers. The man was due to be transferred from Chelmsford prison to an administrative detention center for deportation, but was instead mistakenly released by authorities.
On Sunday, the Metropolitan Police announced that Kebatu had been detained by police and “will be returned to the custody of the Prison Service”.
Commander James Conway, who led the operation to find Kebatu, said it “was a thorough and swift investigation”.
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Information received from the public led officers to Finsbury Park and following a search, they located Kebatu.
“I am extremely grateful to the public for their support of our appeal, which helped locate Kebatu,” Conway said.
How he ended up being freed by mistake
Police in Essex, south-east England, were alerted that Kebatu had been released by mistake at 12.57am on Friday, when he had already boarded a train to east London 16 minutes earlier.
He was caught on surveillance cameras in a library in the Dalston area on Friday night, wearing a gray tracksuit worn from prison and carrying a white satchel with avocado prints.
Immediately, Essex Police, along with the London Metropolitan Police and British Transport Police, began a large-scale search to find the man.
Who is Hadush Kebatu?
Hadush Kebatu is an Ethiopian citizen. He arrived in the UK on a small boat and was jailed for 12 months last month in Epping, Essex.
In September, Chelmsford Crown Court heard that on July 7, Kebatu tried to kiss a 14-year-old girl on a bench and made numerous sexually explicit comments to her.
The next day, he met the same girl and tried to kiss her, after which he sexually assaulted her. He also sexually assaulted a woman who had offered to help him write a resume to find a job.
Kebatu's arrest sparked protests outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, where he lived.
In September, after being found guilty of five offences, he was sentenced to 12 months in prison and given a five-year sexual harm prevention order banning him from approaching or contacting any woman.
