Freed Sudanese Offender Who Dragged 16-Year-Old in Liosion Remains at Large

The image of the 16-year-old girl lying bleeding on the asphalt of Liosion Street, while the driver and the passenger of the motorcycle get up and flee the scene, abandoning the child helpless, sparks outrage. Yet, that outrage should have turned into despair over the functioning of institutions when the perpetrator’s identity was revealed. He is a Sudanese national who, according to reports, has a criminal record for serious offenses such as molestation, threats, and drug-related cases. The burning question for every citizen is simple: how was this man free to roam among us?

Is it possible for a person with such a “background” to ride a motorcycle on the streets of Athens, likely without a license, and nearly take the life of a minor girl? The police knew him, the justice system had dealt with him, yet the perpetrator was out, ready to cause the next harm. While the 16-year-old fights for her life in the Intensive Care Unit of KAT Hospital with severe cranial injuries, the system searches for excuses for its failure to protect society from individuals with proven criminal tendencies.

The case gets even more troubling due to the efforts of others to cover for him. A 20-year-old woman brazenly approached the authorities falsely claiming the motorcycle was stolen, while another young man allegedly staged a misleading scenario to muddy the waters. According to the data, arrests for harboring a criminal reveal an entire network that believes it can fool the police. All this happened while the motorcycle, moving at high speed, made an illegal overtaking maneuver and “mowed down” the girl on the dividing lane. Impunity and lenient penalties appear to have emboldened all kinds of offenders, leaving citizens exposed to chance and lawlessness.

And this is not the first time. There are dozens of cases of foreign nationals convicted of multiple offenses who commit new crimes.

Not many months have passed since cases that shocked the entire country, such as attacks on tourists and residents in downtown Athens by gangs of foreign nationals who had been arrested dozens of times before. Known for robbery and bodily harm, often nationals of third countries, they are arrested, brought to justice, and shortly afterward return to the same locations. According to Hellenic Police (EL.AS.) data, the percentage of foreigners involved in certain categories of crime, such as robberies, remains consistently high, while recidivism seems to be the rule rather than the exception. Why are deportation orders not enforced? There are cases of convicted felons who remain in the country for years after serving part of their sentence, instead of being removed immediately. Who monitors compliance with restrictive conditions? Countless known criminals violate the terms of reporting to police stations, but this is noticed only after they commit a new, often heinous, crime.

How is the citizen protected from the “known-unknowns”? The justice system often exhausts its leniency on individuals who have repeatedly proven their dangerousness, leaving the police to play a relentless game of “cops and robbers” with the same people over and over.