Victim of Abdul Ezedi sex assault attacks church for backing asylum claim
A sex assault victim of Abdul Ezedi has criticised the church for a string of “failings” in backing his asylum claim.
The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said that she befriended the Afghan-born man believed to have carried out the Clapham chemical attack, but that he then began pestering her for sex.
This led to his exposing himself to her without warning and pulling her trousers down in 2017.
Ezedi, 35, was convicted of sex offences in Newcastle in 2018, but was allowed to remain in the country because the sentence did not reach the threshold for deportation.
It has since emerged that Ezedi was twice refused asylum before being granted leave to remain in the UK after a priest vouched for his conversion, arguing that he was “wholly committed” to his new religion.
On Tuesday, the Telegraph reported that Ezedi had converted to Christianity with a Baptist church that “welcomes strangers”.
‘The world is a mess’
Ezedi has been the subject of a nationwide manhunt for a week after allegedly dousing a 31-year-old woman and her two daughters, aged three and eight, with an alkaline substance and trying to run them over with a car before fleeing the scene in Clapham, south London.
The victim relating to his sexual offence has now spoken out for the first time, saying she was angry that he had not been imprisoned and had been allowed to stay in the UK with the help of church leaders.
She told The Sun: “If he’d been jailed for attacking me, then surely he would have been deported.
“But the failings didn’t end there because someone from a church gave him a reference so he could gain asylum.
“Who in their right mind thought that a good idea when he was on the Sex Offenders Register? The world is a mess. He’s a danger to women. That’s obvious to everyone.”
Speaking of when she saw news of the chemical attack, she added: “It all came flooding back when the story broke of the attack.
“When his photo came up on TV I said out loud, ‘Oh my God, look who is on there.’
“I’ve been following it every day in the hope of seeing him arrested – or dead. I feel awful saying it, but it’s true.”
On Monday, Scotland Yard revealed that a 22-year-old man had been arrested and bailed on suspicion of assisting an offender. Despite the raid, which took place in the early hours in London, officers have not ruled out the possibility that Ezedi may be dead.
