A former Halifax taxi driver wants a judge to quash one of two sexual assault charges he faces.
Lawyer Ian Hutchison appeared in Halifax provincial court Monday on behalf of Bassam Al-Rawi, who now lives in Germany.
Al-Rawi, 42, is awaiting a retrial on an allegation of sexually assaulting an intoxicated woman who was discovered by police passed out and partially naked in the back seat of his car in May 2015.
Al-Rawi was found not guilty at trial last year. Judge Gregory Lenehan said the Crown failed to prove the woman, who had no memory of being in the cab, had not consented to sexual activity with the driver.
“Clearly, a drunk can consent,” Lenehan said,sparking public outrage and a national debate on the capacity of intoxicated persons to consent to sex.
The controversial acquittal was overturned in January by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, which said Lenehan erred in law by finding there was no evidence of lack of consent and ordered a new trial.
Dates for that trial are expected to be set Aug. 21.
Al-Rawi had earlier been accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2012.
A woman told police she was drunk and walking alone on a Halifax street in December 2012 when Al-Rawi came along and offered her a ride.
She told police he drove her to an apartment, where she was sexually assaulted.
Police investigated the complaint but decided in March 2013 there was insufficient evidence to charge Al-Rawi.
Police took another look at the file last year and decided there were grounds for a charge of sexual assault, which was laid this February.
On Monday, Hutchison told the court his client wants a hearing on a motion to quash the charge from the 2012 allegation.
The lawyer said he plans to call evidence from the police officer who decided against charging Al-Rawi back in 2013 and the officer who determined almost five years later that there were reasonable and probable grounds to lay the charge.
Hutchison and Crown attorney Carla Ball will return to court Aug. 9 to set a date for the hearing.
Al-Rawi is free on cash bail of $500.
He is prohibited from having contact with either complainant and must present himself to the court seven days before any trial.