A local councillor who is acting as the spokesman for the family of a 14 year old girl who was sexually assaulted by a migrant staying in The Bell hotel has said the community are ‘disgusted’ by the verdict.
Speaking on GB News Cllr Shane Yerrell read out the statement by the girl’s father:
‘To give the verdict today of all days when we are remembering our fallen soldiers, just creates another level of pain.
‘I speak on behalf of any and every father who has been in a similar situation. I speak on behalf of everyone in Epping who has come out, week in, week out to try and get this hotel shut down because of the incidents that have happened.
‘All the government wants to do is keep turning a blind eye and forget about it. Well, we won’t forget about it. We will keep on fighting until we get some proper justice.
‘17 weeks for five counts of sexual assault is disgusting on any level. Then mistakenly letting a man out onto our streets and putting all of our child’s lives in danger, putting my daughter in danger again, bringing back all of the trauma from the day it happened again.
‘My message to the government and the Home Office: this is all on you, and now, anything that happens to another child in this country as a result of an illegal immigrant is all on you, as you have failed to protect your own people and put in safeguarding measures to protect them.
‘You can’t put in the appropriate measures to stop people crossing our borders. You know nothing about these people, but you have fought to keep them in this hotel.
‘How much do you think that hurts me and hurts my daughter? When you go home tonight and look at your own children, ask yourselves, how would you feel in my position?’
Commenting on the situation in Epping, Cllr Yerrell said:
“He’s really upset. We went into the day quite positive. I spoke to him at home; we both felt like Epping Forest was going to win the injunction. But it’s gutting now, and it’s another insult to the family that have been insulted.
“There’s an emergency protest tonight as a result of this. A lot of local parents are disgusted, the same as the family are. They just don’t. Everyone’s hoping for a lifeline that didn’t come.
“I think the problem is as well that our actual Home Office came out and said that the human rights of asylum seekers outweighs the concerns of local people.
“Now everybody now feels second best to people that came here illegally.”
