A convicted sex offender repeatedly denied asylum in the UK was being hunted Friday for a chemical attack injuring several people, including a blinded mom and her young daughters — with a wanted poster showing the suspect’s face also gruesomely disfigured.
Abdul Shakoor Ezedi, 35, a pizzeria worker who arrived from Afghanistan in 2016, allegedly injured at least a dozen people by throwing an alkaline substance at them Wednesday night, the BBC reported.
A 31-year-old woman was blinded and her two daughters, ages 3 and 8, were injured in the “horrific” attack in upscale Clapham in south London, the Metropolitan Police said.
Three other women and one man who came to their aid suffered minor burns and five cops were also hurt.
Ezedi was spotted on surveillance footage across the Thames in North London about an hour after the 7:30 p.m. attack, buying a bottle of water, police said while releasing the last-known image of him.
Police have released an image of the suspect in the chemical attack in London. Metropolitan Police/AFP via Getty Images
“The image shows Ezedi with what appears to be significant injuries to the right side of his face,” police said, with a horrifying-looking wound covering a huge chunk of his face around his right eye.
“This makes him distinctive.”
He is thought to have disappeared from the area on an underground train, cops said in an update Friday.
Abdul Shakoor Ezedi allegedly wounded several people with a corrosive substance. ZUMAPRESS.com
The attacked mom “has suffered life-changing injuries,” police Commander Jon Savell said Friday.
The unidentified mom remained in a critical but stable condition in a hospital. Her children also remained hospitalized with injuries not thought to be life-changing, Savell said.
One witness described seeing the suspect lift a child over his head and throw her onto the ground like a “ragdoll,” telling the BBC the attack was like a “horror movie.”
Ezedi was twice turned down for asylum before being granted leave to remain in 2022, despite having been convicted of sexual assault and exposure in 2018, the Telegraph reported.
For the sexual assault, he received a nine-week jail term suspended for two years, a deferred sentence similar to parole in the US.
He was sentenced to 36 weeks to be served consecutively, also suspended for two years, for the exposure, the BBC reported.
His third asylum bid was successful after a priest vouched for his conversion to Christianity and argued he was “wholly committed” to his new religion, according to the Telegraph.
Ezedi had claimed his life would be in danger if he was returned to Afghanistan.
Ezedi was granted asylum despite a conviction for sex assault. ZUMAPRESS.com
Workers at the Byker butcher shop in Newcastle, where Ezedi lived for about a year, said they were “horrified” that the pizzeria worker had been connected to the attack.
Ezedi told a store employee about how he planned to one day return to Afghanistan “to find a wife,” according to the Telegraph, which reported that he was at the Halal store the day before the attack.
“He works in a pizza shop. Every two weeks he would come here to buy a half sheep,” the butcher told the outlet.
“He would say, ‘I am working in a pizza shop at night and I have no time to shop and you are closed when I finish work.’ So, he would pay £50 or £60 for the meat. He said he put the meat in the freezer,” he said.
The worker added: “He never bought any alcohol. He was a good Muslim. Some Muslims do buy alcohol. But he never bought alcohol.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman declined to comment on the Ezedi’s immigration status during a continuing police investigation.
But he told reporters that “the PM doesn’t think that foreign criminals should be able to stay in the country, putting the public at risk.”
Police Superintendent Gabriel Cameron said he had “no idea” what Ezedi’s motivation may have been, but that he was “wholeheartedly confident” he would be caught.
Source link: https://nypost.com/2024/02/02/news/sex-offender-hunted-for-uk-chemical-attack-has-own-distinctive-inuries/