Clapham 'attacker' Abdul Ezedi sneaked into Britain in a truck and had TWICE asylum claims rejected before chemical horror
A fugitive hunted over a horror chemical attack on a mother and two children sneaked into Britain in a truck and had two asylum claims rejected.
Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, 35, from Newcastle, did still at large after twelve people were injured in the horror attack in at 7.25pm yesterday – and police are urging people not to approach him.
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The victims include a mother who struggled with the chemical maniac who doused her and her young children with a corrosive liquid and then tried to run her over.
Members of the public and police officers were also burned as they rushed to the family's aid.
Witnesses have told how the woman staggered blindly down the street after the horrific attack, wailing: 'I can't see. I can not see it.'
The vulnerable victim – probably lived in in hiding from the Afghan refugee Abdul Ezedi – was targeted on Wednesday evening.
It has now been revealed that Ezedi arrived in Britain in a truck and did not claim asylum.
However, he subsequently converted to Christianity and was accepted on his third attempt with a priest as a character witness.
It is believed he tracked her down to the two-star Clapham South Belvedere Hotel, where she was staying with her daughters, aged eight and three, in a room provided by the council.
Just before 7.30pm a row broke out and spilled into a residential street near Clapham Common, south-west London.
Everything we know…
The suspect It is believed he grabbed the youngest child and put him in the back of a white car.
When the mother and eldest daughter tried to intervene, he threw an alkaline substance, believed to be oven cleaner, at them.
Shocking CCTV footage shows the man running around the car and slamming a rear door before getting into the driver's seat.
The woman and her daughter are seen reaching for each other with one hand while holding their eyes with the other. At one point the suspect drives up to the woman who throws her arms in the air.
He then jumped out of the car and grabbed the three-year-old child before throwing her to the ground “like a rag doll” twice.
The suspect got back into the motorcycle, but crashed into a parked car and fled the scene, pursued by the public.
Others who rushed to help the family suffered burns themselves.
Mum-of-three Shannon Christie, who lives in a block of flats at the end of the road, was scalded by the corrosive liquid when she went to rescue the youngest child.
Bus driver Shannon, 35, said: “I heard the commotion and ran outside.
“I saw a little girl being thrown to the ground. That's when I ran in and picked her up off the floor.
“I heard her mother screaming, 'I can't see, I can't see.' So I called my partner to get some water. The hospital staff came by and doused her with water. At that moment my skin started to tingle.
“Me and the little girl went into the block to wash our eyes and faces with water.”
'HORRIBLE'
Shannon continued: “I think what happened is she got it on her jacket when she fell to the ground and then it transferred to me. I went to the hospital because my lips kept burning, but they couldn't identify what the substance was.”
She added: “The youngest girl was three years old. I tried to talk to her and ask her name, but she kept crying.
“The mother walked down the street, but she couldn't see anything.
“The hotel staff also came to help.”
Shannon told how her partner chased the attacker, dressed in black but wearing slippers, and lost him. She added: “I think it was a domestic incident.”
Another witness said: “There was a little girl banging on the door on the man's side, the lady was crying and shouting 'my eyes, my eyes, police'. He opened the door, took the baby out and hit her on the ground twice, I'm talking loud, boom.”
Another female witness added: “It was horrible. I heard people screaming. I saw a car and thought there had been an accident.
“I saw him come out of the driver's side and take a child out of the back of the car. He stretched out his arms and threw her to the ground like a rag doll. Then he did it again. I thought she was dead. She didn't make a sound.
“I heard the baby say, 'I want my mother, I want my mother.' I was so relieved that she was still alive. I saw a silver can that may have contained the corrosive substance.”
One man said of the woman: “She screamed, 'My eyes! My eyes!'. I then ran into my house, grabbed a water bottle and threw water in her eyes. Her lips were black. Her skin looked burned.”
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Hotel staff doused the mother and her children with water before medics and firefighters arrived. Another witness described how the woman suffered burns to her face that turned her lips black. They said: “She screamed: 'my eyes'. Her skin looked burned.”
A 26-year-old man staying at the budget hotel described the woman as fluent in English and said she was praying while being treated for burns in a toilet.
He said: “The children were praying. The older child said “thank you” to people.
“The mother calmed down her daughters, she looked very bad, the mother. She was crying, a Romanian woman was trying to clean her face.”
Meanwhile, locals investigated the scene, where a small pair of children's shoes lay abandoned on the ground.
One man said: “I saw acid on the ground and two baby shoes on the ground. The car was in the middle of the road with the doors open.”
The mother and her daughters were treated at a hospital trauma center last night. Four members of the public also suffered burns.
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Three women – two in their 30s and one in their 50s – who “bravely came to the aid of the family” have been released from hospital.
A fourth person refused help. Five officers were also treated.
Police tried to piece together the chain of events last night.
And they warned people not to approach the dangerous Ezedi.
He had lived in Newcastle for a number of years but is said to have recently traveled to London. Witnesses said Ezedi spent his days 'hanging around the streets' of Newcastle, near the hostel where he lived last summer.
And garage owner Bilal Khan, 34, told how he harassed him to reduce the price of a car he wanted to buy.
Mr Khan said: “He was persistent and obnoxious in the way he tried to get the price down. I had a black automatic Ford Fiesta was for sale for £5,000 and he kept coming in and trying to buy it for £4,000.
'He's a small, skinny boy, there's nothing threatening about him, but I didn't like the way he went about things. When I told him no, he called in a friend and tried to get me to lower the price. I don't like hanging out with people from the hostel, there are a lot of problems and drug use, so I didn't really want to get involved.
'It's terrible to think that he is involved in this acid attack. I really sympathize with the children involved.
Met chief slams 'horrendous' attack
MET Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said an urgent manhunt has been launched for the attacker.
Sir Mark said on BBC News: “Understandably it is frightening.
'Fortunately, acid and chemical attacks are extremely rare.
“We had a wave of it two or three years ago, you might remember.
“It's not something we've seen much of lately, I'm pleased to say.
“This is a horrific attack, and the first thing we have to say is that we have a real manhunt on our hands.
“We believe the suspected perpetrator was known to the victims.
“We have a large team of officers, including local officers who dealt with it, assisted by colleagues.
“We're hunting for him right now.”
“As I could see, he spent his days alone, hanging out on the streets near the hostel.”
Locals in King's Cross, north London, said Ezedi recently stayed there and visited an employment agency.
Met Police Chief Inspector Gabriel Cameron said: “We are working to establish the circumstances.
'A manhunt is underway to track down Ezedi. We work with partner agencies and forces, including the British Transport Police to locate and arrest him. If you see Ezedi, call 999 immediately. He should not be approached.”
Minister of Internal Affairs James Slim said: “Last night's attack on a mother and her two children in Clapham was horrific.
“My thoughts are with them and the brave citizens and police who intervened. I ask the public to support the Metropolitan Police's call and come forward if they have any information.”
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