{"id":92743,"date":"2017-03-06T21:37:35","date_gmt":"2017-03-07T02:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=92743"},"modified":"2017-03-06T21:37:35","modified_gmt":"2017-03-07T02:37:35","slug":"halifax-taxi-driver-an-innocent-man-being-pilloried-in-public-his-lawyer-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/03\/06\/halifax-taxi-driver-an-innocent-man-being-pilloried-in-public-his-lawyer-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Halifax taxi driver ‘an innocent man’ being pilloried in public, his lawyer says"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The defence lawyer for a Halifax cabbie who was acquitted of sexual assault in a decision that has drawn a storm of public criticism says his client is an innocent man who is being pilloried unfairly and racially stereotyped. (Photo: Jaakko Hakulinen\/Flickr<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

HALIFAX \u2014 The defence lawyer for a Halifax cabbie who was acquitted of sexual assault in a decision that has drawn a storm of public criticism says his client is an innocent man who is being pilloried unfairly and racially stereotyped.<\/p>\n

Luke Craggs says in an emailed news release that 40-year-old Bassam Al-Rawi was found not guilty by Judge Gregory Lenehan for legitimate reasons, including a lack of forensic evidence of sexual activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany persons have loudly vilified Mr. Al-Rawi. Those most eager to vilify Mr. Al-Rawi seem to be the least eager to gather accurate information,\u201d Craggs said in his release Monday evening.<\/p>\n

Craggs said that a large portion of public discussion has perpetrated the \u201cgrotesque stereotype\u201d that Al-Rawi’s Arab race and Muslim religion mean he is prone to sexually assault a vulnerable woman.<\/p>\n

Also Monday, the Nova Scotia Criminal Lawyers Association issued a statement saying criticism of Lenehan’s \u201cpartiality, competence, and his qualifications … is unfounded and undermines the discussion that is needed to address the prevention of sexual assault.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMost importantly, he is fair. He is the type of person that any reasonable, informed member of the public should want as a judge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Al-Rawi was charged after police found the woman, in her 20s, intoxicated, unconscious and partially naked in his car in the early hours of May 23, 2015.<\/p>\n

A police constable testified during the trial that she saw Al-Rawi shoving the woman’s pants and underwear between the front seats during the arrest. At the time of his arrest, Al-Rawi’s seat was partially reclined and the woman’s legs were resting on the back of the front bucket seat.<\/p>\n

Al-Rawi’s pants were undone at the waist and his zipper was down a couple of inches. Evidence of the woman’s DNA was found on Al-Rawi’s mouth, but the bodily substance couldn’t be identified.<\/p>\n

Lenehan said the evidence was concerning, and that the officer was correct to arrest Al-Rawi because \u201cany reasonable person\u201d could believe that Al-Rawi was engaging in or about to engage in sexual activity with a woman who is incapable of consenting.<\/p>\n

However, he said in his oral decision that the Crown provided no evidence on whether or not the woman consented to sexual activity.<\/p>\n

He said for Al-Rawi to be convicted the Crown had to show beyond a reasonable doubt that Al-Rawi not only touched the woman in a way that violated her sexually, but that it was done without her consent.<\/p>\n

Lenehan said a person is incapable of consent if they are unconscious or are so intoxicated that they are unable to understand or perceive their situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis does not mean, however, that an intoxicated person cannot give consent to sexual activity,\u201d he said. \u201cClearly, a drunk can consent.\u201d<\/p>\n

That comment prompted condemnation of the judge by some citizens, a critical news release from sexual assault centres across the province, and anger from the woman at the centre of the trial.<\/p>\n

The woman told The Canadian Press in an email Monday that Craggs’ defence of his client amounted essentially to a restatement of Al-Rawi’s defence at trial.<\/p>\n

The young woman didn’t attend court on the day of the decision, and said when she first read Lenehan’s remarks she was extremely angry.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was impossible for me not to take it personally, and in general I wouldn’t want anyone in that position to be labelled a drunk or to be told that being drunk made them not credible,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Craggs said in his news release that trained sexual assault nurses carefully examined the woman and Al-Rawi’s DNA was not found on her. \u201cIn fact, this examination found no evidence of any sexual activity, consensual or otherwise,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fleeting gratification of this uninformed public pillorying carries real world consequences for both Mr. Al-Rawi and informed public discourse,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

The woman in the case said she won’t be attending a protest planned for downtown Halifax on Tuesday, but is grateful it’s happening.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that everyone is showing their rage, that makes me feel better,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Crown spokeswoman Chris Hansen said if there is an appeal it will be based on legal errors in Lenehan’s decision, not the public outcry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don’t appeal a decision just because we don’t like it, we don’t appeal a decision because it’s not a popular decision in the public realm. It has to be based on an error in law.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HALIFAX \u2014 The defence lawyer for a Halifax cabbie who was acquitted of sexual assault in a decision that has …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":92391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,18,16],"tags":[16228],"class_list":["post-92743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-news-ca","category-news","tag-halifax-cabbie","mauthors-michael-tutton","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}