British woman who fostered Afghan migrant, 28, who was deported after raping 12-year-old girl tells him NOT to come back as he tries to smuggle himself back across the Channel
- Emal Kochai was thrown out of the UK in 2019 after serving half his jail sentence
- His foster mother has warned him against returning to Britain with his family
A British woman who fostered an Afghan migrant who was jailed after raping a 12-year-old girl has told him not to come back – as he attempts to smuggle himself across the Channel on a boat.
Emal Kochai, 28, was thrown out the country in 2019 after serving half of his nine-year prison sentence for the rape of a girl in Reading, Berkshire, five years earlier.
But he is now living in a French migrant camp waiting for his chance to board a small boat back to the UK.
He had been fostered by a woman in nearby Hungerford after being claiming asylum in the UK as a 17-year-old in 2012.
The foster mother, who has not been identified, maintains contact with Kochai, and is aware he is attempting to make a return to the UK. She has warned him against trying to make the journey back.
Emal Kochai, 28, was thrown out the country in 2019 after serving half of his nine-year prison sentence for the rape of a girl in Reading, Berkshire
She told The Times: ‘When he said he wanted to come back from Afghanistan I did try and stop him. I said: “There is nothing here for you.” His asylum case will be rejected because he’s been to prison.
‘But he loves Britain, the British people, and he wants to come back. I’m concerned if he comes back. I want him to try another country but he loves England.
‘I told him not to get on a boat. I said “don’t do it”. I don’t want him to drown, he can’t swim.’
Kochai last week tried to board a vessel to cross the Channel, but said that police arrived and punctured the boat with a knife.
He is said to have initially been ‘homesick for Afghanistan’, but now wishes to return to the UK.
The foster mother, a retired teacher who looked after three other Afghan migrants, visited Kochai several times in prison following his conviction.
She added: ‘We were devastated when we found out about the accusation, we couldn’t believe it. It was very sad that it happened. He moved out of our house because he was 18 and was with the wrong people. He got in trouble.
‘He was young when it happened and I like to think he’s changed. He is full of life. Even in prison he was happy, working in kitchens, doing his lessons, learning a trade.’
Migrants gather as French police officers dismantle their makeshift camp at Loon Beach near Dunkirk in November 2021
His trial heard how the victim told police he pushed her on to a bed, pulled off her clothing and raped her.
But after his deportation to Afghanistan, Kochai managed to flee again and said that he travelled through Iran, Pakistan and Turkey to make his way to France.
He had earlier been given the option to serve a longer prison sentence and stay in the UK, but took an option of leaving prison earlier and being deported.
His previous foster mother says he married a woman following his return to Afghanistan, with whom he now has a young daughter, but he wants them to claim asylum in the UK.
It comes after Kochai last week told The Times that the government’s new Illegal Migration Bill will not stop him attempting to return to the UK with his cousin, his cousin’s wife and their two children aged four and six.
He said: ‘I will never give up trying to get to the UK. I have been in France for three months and we don’t get anything.
‘In the UK I can get education, a job and a house. My brother was killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan and it is not safe for me there.’
A Home Office source said: ‘This case shows exactly why we need genuine deterrent measures in place to stop rapists and other serious criminals illegally entering the UK.’
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