Halifax aggravated sexual assault case put over as defence awaits DNA

FILE: “The court may take a different position when the matter comes back to court.” (Photo by University of Michigan School for Environment/Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

HALIFAX — The case of a known sex offender charged with aggravated sexual assault and choking after a woman said she was attacked in a Halifax home has been adjourned again.

Sem Paul Obed appeared in Halifax provincial court today by video link, and his lawyer Brad Sarson told Judge Marc Chisholm that he wanted more time before proceeding.

Sarson said he was awaiting forensic DNA analysis, among other things.

Prosecutor Sean McCarroll pointed out that the case has already been put off several times.

“The Crown would like to see this matter proceed as quickly as possible,” said McCarroll.

But Chisholm said delaying the matter for another month was not “unreasonable.”

“The court may take a different position when the matter comes back to court,” he said.

The judge asked Obed if he agreed to the delay, and he responded: “Yes.”

The case was adjourned until Sept. 5.

Obed was charged in June after a woman said she was sexually assaulted by a man who broke into a home on Cunard Street.

Police have said the suspect fled the home before the woman contacted officers at about 11:50 a.m. on June 1, and Obed was arrested at a home in the Fairview area less than five hours later.

Obed, who is in his late 40s, is facing charges of aggravated sexual assault, choking to overcome resistance, uttering threats, break and enter and two counts of breaching court orders.

He has a criminal record going back decades.

Records from the provincial court of Newfoundland and Labrador in Happy Valley-Goose Bay and obtained by The Canadian Press list dozens of convictions against Obed, including attempted murder, sexual assault and assault with a weapon.

Police issued a high-risk offender notice in 2014 when Obed was released from federal prison, saying he was “a very high risk to reoffend in a sexual and violent manner.”

The warning echoed a Parole Board of Canada decision that said Obed has a well-established pattern of extreme violence that began at an early age.