OPINION: Vile crimes against children are treated more leniently than speech on social media.
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu has been sentenced to 12 months in prison (Image: PA)
A migrant convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl has been given just 12 months in prison, while a British mother was sentenced to 31 months behind bars for a tweet. If the UK’s two-tier justice system didn’t already concern you, it should now.
Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu arrived in England illegally, crossing the English Channel in a dinghy. Within days, he was preying on children. During his trial, it was revealed that Kebatu told two teenage girls he wanted to “have a baby with each of them,” tried to kiss them, touched one girl’s thigh, and stroked her hair. He was convicted of five separate offences.
Sickening. But equally disturbing is the punishment. Kebatu received just a 12-month sentence – the maximum magistrates can hand down.
Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court was told he tried to kiss the teenager (Image: PA)
In reality, he could be out in far less time: released for ‘good behaviour’ after six months, or even three with an electronic tag.
This raises the simple question of why the case was not sent to the Crown Court, where a more appropriate sentence can be imposed? Sexual assault of a child is surely a crime that warrants more than basically a slap on the wrist.
The disparity becomes even starker when compared with the case of Lucy Connolly, a British mother sentenced to 31 months in prison for a social media post following the Southport terror attack.
She received a sentence nearly three times longer than a man who sexually assaulted children.
Kebatu was found guilty of two counts of sexual assault, attempted sexual assault, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and harassment without violence. Yet his punishment is less severe than that handed to a mother who made a post online.
The message this sends should alarm you. Vile crimes against children are treated more leniently than speech on social media. That is not justice – it is a betrayal of it.
This man should not be allowed to walk free in Britain. He should be deported immediately, sparing taxpayers the cost of housing and monitoring a foreign criminal who chose to harm our children.
