Halifax cab driver acquitted of sexual assault faces second charge

A Halifax cab driver who was found not guilty of sexually assaulting a female passenger has been charged with sexually assaulting a different woman.

Bassam Al-Rawi, 42, was charged in May 2015 after a Halifax Regional Police officer found a young woman passed out and naked from the waist in the back of his cab.

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Details of the second sexual assault charge against Al-Rawi remain under a publication ban. His case is scheduled to return to court in July.

Al-Rawi was acquitted in March 2017, when Judge Gregory Lenehan stated, “Clearly, a drunk can consent,” sparking public outrage and groups calling for Lenehan’s removal as a trial judge.

Lenehan ruled that the Crown did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the complainant didn’t consent to sexual activity with Al-Rawi.

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An independent review by the Nova Scotia Judicial Council into Lenehan’s comments dismissed all 121 formal complaints regarding his conduct.

The complaints were received between March and May 2017 by individuals and organizations across the province, following Al-Rawi’s acquittal.

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The Crown successfully appealed the acquittal in January 2018 and he is awaiting a new trial.

In a unanimous decision, the Court of Appeal said Lenehan “discounted the substantial body of circumstantial evidence and a lack of consent or capacity to consent.”

— With files from Rebecca Lau