Abdul Ezedi sex assault victim says ordeal 'has come flooding back' amid hunt for Clapham chemical attack suspect

Hunt for Clapham chemical attack suspect Abdul Ezedi enters seventh day
Josh Salisbury7 February 2024
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The woman sexually assaulted by the Clapham chemical attack suspect Abdul Ezedi has said the manhunt for him made her ordeal come “flooding back”.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, questioned why Ezedi was not deported after attacking her, saying: “He’s a danger to women”.

Speaking to The Sun newspaper, she said she initially befriended Ezedi but that he soon began pestering her for sex before exposing himself to her and pulling her trousers down in 2017.

She said: “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!’”.

He was handed a suspended sentence at Newcastle Crown Court and was placed on the sex offender register for 10 years and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

The hunt for Ezedi has now entered its seventh day after last Wednesday’s attack on a mother and her two young children in Clapham, with detectives on Tuesday issuing new footage of the 35-year-old near the Thames.

A still from CCTV footage of Abdul Ezedi on Upper Thames Street
PA Media

The woman is still in hospital with serious injuries after the incident on Wednesday evening.

A 22-year-old man was arrested on Monday on suspicion of assisting an offender. He was taken into custody and later released on bail pending further enquiries.

In the last known sighting, the suspect, who is originally from Afghanistan and was granted asylum in the UK, passes the Unilever building near Blackfriars and heads towards Victoria Embankment at 10.04pm on Wednesday.

He has not been seen publicly since.

Detectives believe he could be being shielded by accomplices, with Commander Jon Savell saying: “We continue to appeal for information about Ezedi’s whereabouts. It remains our belief that he is being helped by others and yesterday we arrested a man for assisting an offender. Our enquiries continue to target more of Ezedi’s associates.

“A £20,000 reward remains on offer for anyone who has information leading to his arrest.”

Another working police theory is that Ezedi could now be dead.

Ezedi, who is from Newcastle, is not the father of the children in the attack and was in the capital visiting the victim, police believe.

The two young children, who were also injured in the attack, may not suffer life-changing injuries as a result, while their mother is more severely wounded.

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