A young woman from Boston says she was re-victimized by a state court that allowed her illegal alien alleged rapist to flee the country after being released on bond. Despite an immigration detainer being placed on the suspect, a judge allowed the man to be released while still in possession of his passport, police say. He quickly fled the country and returned to his native Ghana.
Rape victim Emily Murray, who insisted on being identified, told Breitbart Texas that the district attorney’s office and even her own court-appointed victim’s advocate are trying to get her to stay silent about the errors that allowed the alleged rapist, 30-year-old Frederick Quaicoo Amfo to flee the country.
“I was failed by my state, Uber and [ICE] officials,” the frustrated rape victim said in a Facebook message to this writer. “I was raped and have been repeatedly victimized over the past week. My rapist ESCAPED the country even though he was a criminal and [an] illegal alien who was out on bail.”
“My state-appointed advocate, the state, and basically everyone messed up [are] trying to keep me quiet,” she said.
Amfo’s release on bond came after a Quincy District Court judge allowed the illegally present Ghanan national to be released, giving him 24 hours to return with his passport. The judge also failed to send the immigration detainer along with the release documents for the Norfolk County jail officials to review. As a result, the jail did not contact ICE prior to Amfo’s release.
“They attempted to make me feel better by saying he lost his $10,000 bond money and is no longer in the country,” Murray told Breitbart Texas in a phone interview Wednesday evening. “It’s like they are trying to put a dollar sign on my body. The worst part is, if he comes back, he can do it to someone else.”
Amfo picked up Murray while working as an Uber driver on April 8, Fox News reported. As he drove her toward her home, Amfo allegedly locked her in the back seat and sexually assaulted her. “Within minutes, I was in a situation I couldn’t control and I was assaulted,” Murray told Fox25’s Bob Ward.
Hospital officials took a DNA sample and a rape kit. The DNA and evidence found in Amfo’s vehicle led to his arrest a few days after the alleged attack.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials told Breitbart Texas they issued an immigration detainer after learning the Ghanan national was “unlawfully present in the U.S.”
“That detainer should have followed the alien as he transferred from the Quincy Court House. The court chose not to forward the detainer to Norfolk County, allowing for his subsequent release on bail from custody,” ICE officials said in a statement provided to Breitbart Texas on Wednesday. “This case highlights the potential dangers of policies that prohibit cooperation with ICE.”
Court records obtained by Fox25 in Boston revealed that the Quincy District Court judge set a $10,000 bond on the suspected rapist and allowed him to be released while still in possession of his passport. The judge ordered Amfo to surrender his passport within 24 hours. He did not. By Monday afternoon, Amfo allegedly fled the U.S. to Ghana.
“The DA’s office did not contact me about his release from jail,” Murray told Breitbart Texas. “Instead, I received an email from Boston PD telling me he was gone.”
“I saw him in court on Friday, he had an arraignment the next day, and now he’s gone,” she expressed.
The Massachusetts Trial Court said it followed the Assistant District Attorney Moira Daly’s recommendation for the $10,000 cash bond, the Boston Herald reported. In a written statement, the court said:
A review of the circumstances indicates that the court allowed the defendant to be released without first surrendering his passport, providing him 24 hours to do so. As a result of this review, the court has now implemented procedures to ensure that defendants who are ordered by the court to surrender their passports surrender them when they post bail and prior to their release.
The Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office would not respond to a question from the Boston Herald about why the prosecutor did not request a GPS monitoring device, a dangerousness hearing, or a higher bail which might have kept Amfo in the country.
ICE officials told Breitbart Texas that Amfo has been “illegally present since 2009.” The official said ICE moved quickly to place a detainer on the suspected rapist.
“The detainer that was issued was delivered to the local Police Department, which delivered it to the state court,” the ICE official stated. “The state court failed to deliver the detainer request to the correctional facility.”
The official could not comment on whether the alleged rapist entered the U.S. illegally or if he overstayed a visa.
Murray contacted Breitbart Texas after reading a story about a similar case that occurred in Boston less than a year ago. On May 5, 2017, Breitbart Texas reported about an illegal immigrant Uber driver from the Dominican Republic who was released by a Massachusetts judge after the suspect allegedly raped a Boston College student.
Prosecutors asked the judge for a $100,000 bond and told her that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers were working on getting a detainer on the alleged rapist. Instead, Newton District Court Judge Mary Beth Heffernan “insisted on $2,500 bail,” the Boston Herald reported.
Following the second rape allegedly committed by an illegally present Uber driver in the past year, a company spokesperson told the Boston Herald, “What’s been reported is unacceptable. The driver has been removed from the app, and we are looking into this.”
Murray expressed her concern that Amfo could eventually return to the U.S. and attack more women.
Breitbart Texas has reported extensively on the efforts by Border Patrol agents to apprehend previously deported sex offenders and rapists.
On Tuesday, Breitbart Texas reported that Border Patrol agents in South Texas arrested seven previously deported sex offenders, rapists, and child sex offenders in one week.
As to why Murray wanted her identity released, “Before I put my name and face out there, I was case number, and now I’m a person,” she told the Patriot Ledger. “I’m a human, I’m a mother. Now they have to look me in the face and tell me what happened.”
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX, GAB, and Facebook.