Municipality to launch licence review of taxi driver found not guilty of sexual assault

HALIFAX – A Halifax cabbie, who was allegedly found by police in May 2015 with his pants undone and an unconscious, highly intoxicated and half-naked 26-year-old woman in his backseat, has been acquitted of sexual assault allegations.

Judge Gregory Lenehan handed down the verdict on Wednesday, saying the Crown failed to prove Bassam Al-Rawi, 40, had acted without consent.

The court heard officers approached Al-Rawi’s cab around 1:40 a.m. on May 22, 2015, and found him with his jeans open, stuffing the woman’s urine-soaked pants down between his seat and the console. The woman was said to be unconscious in the backseat, but police did not witness Al-Rawi touching her.

The woman testified the last thing she recalled was ordering drinks at Boomers.

In delivering his verdict, Judge Lenehan said not only that the woman’s drunken state did not prohibit her from offering consent to sexual activities, but also that, since police did not see Al-Rawi touching the woman when she was passed out, it could not be said with certainty that he ever had.

Court heard Al-Rawi had the woman’s DNA on his upper lip – something the judge attributed to him having handled her pants which were wet with urine.

Judge Lenehan made clear in his remarks that the evidence was “disturbing”, but said his guilt had not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

The judge went on to say he would not be comfortable having his daughter in a cab with Al-Rawi, saying the taxi driver had an ethical responsibility to ensure the drunk woman got home safely and should have refused any sexual relations.

MUNICIPALITY WILL LAUNCH REVIEW OF AL-RAWI’S TAXI LICENCE

The Halifax Regional Municipality will be launching a review to determine whether to revoke the licence of Bassam Al-Rawi, the taxi driver found not guilty of sexual assault in provincial court on Wednesday.

The 40-year-old has had a licence to drive a taxi while his case was before the courts, but municipal spokesperson Brendan Elliott – who would not comment on the specific case – says when a court case involving a driver comes to an end, the municipality will look at what transpired in court to determine whether to revoke a driver’s licence.

“Just because somebody might be found not guilty in court doesn’t mean we feel that they’re safe to be behind the wheel when it comes to taking passengers,” Elliott said. “Our bar of what we consider to be appropriate is ‘will the passengers be safe with that person behind the wheel’.”

Elliott did not offer a timeline for a decision from the review committee, which is made up of municipal staff. A request will be made to obtain a transcript of the case from the court, and Elliott says the committee will take its time to ensure a fair review.

If Al-Rawi’s licence is revoked, he will then be able to appeal the decision to a standing committee involving municipal councillors, as was the case when his licence was re-instated in 2015.

“NOT WITH US”

Meantime a number of Halifax-based taxi companies have taken to twitter to confirm that despite having his licence to operate a taxi, Al-Rawi has not been driving for them, including Casino Taxi and Al-Rawi’s former employer Bob’s Taxi, who fired him when allegations of sexual assault came out.

Another option for Al-Rawi was registering as an independent driver in the municipality, but Elliott says due to a high demand of such requests, HRM has placed a freeze on approvals.

“It’s capped at 1,000 and there’s a list of I think 400 that are waiting for conventional rooflights,” he said. “So the situation would be next to impossible at this stage.”