Former Halifax taxi driver who fled Canada after sexual assault conviction extradited from Italy

A former Halifax taxi driver who fled the country after being convicted of sexually assaulting a passenger has been extradited from Italy to Canada.

Nova Scotia’s Public Prosecution Service (PPS) says Bassam Al-Rawi returned to Canadian soil Thursday and will serve the remainder of his sentence for his sexual assault conviction.

Al-Rawi was found guilty in August 2020 of sexually assaulting a passenger in Halifax in 2012. He was sentenced to two years in prison in December 2020.

The PPS says Al-Rawi was released on bail while he was trying to appeal his conviction with the Supreme Court of Canada. He was released on strict conditions, including that he live in Ottawa with his surety.

However, authorities learned in May 2022 that Al-Rawi had travelled to Montreal, met his wife and one-year-old son, and fled to Iraq.

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According to a news release, Al-Rawi was arrested in Italy on Sept. 8, 2023. He tried to appeal his extradition, but the Italian Court of Appeal ordered that he be sent back to Canada to complete his sentence.

The PPS says the extradition process typically spans several years, but it was expedited in this case through the collaborative efforts of multiple international agencies.

“The successful extradition of Bassam Al-Rawi in less than one year is a remarkable achievement,” said Jennifer MacLellan, executive leadership team member with the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service.

The PPS notes that extradition from another country to Canada is possible only if the offence is considered a crime in both countries.

Sexual assault conviction

During Al-Rawi’s judge-alone trial in 2020, the complainant told the court she was intoxicated in downtown Halifax when a taxi driver picked her up in December 2012.

The woman, whose identity was protected by a court-imposed publication ban, said the man took her to his apartment, where he sexually assaulted her while she pretended to be unconscious.

This was not the first time Al-Rawi had been accused of sexually assaulting a passenger while working as a taxi driver in Halifax.

He was previously charged with sexually assaulting another woman in his cab in 2015, but was acquitted by Judge Gregory Lenehan in that case in 2017.

Some of Lenehan’s comments sparked public outrage, particularly his statement that “clearly, a drunk can consent.”

The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal concluded Lenehan erred in law by finding there was no evidence of lack of consent and ordered a new trial.

Al-Rawi was retried in that case in 2019, but was found not guilty a second time.

While Judge Ann Marie Simmons determined the woman was too intoxicated to consent to any sexual activity, she found problems with the evidence of sexual assault or physical contact by the cabbie.

With files from The Canadian Press

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