Passenger in sexual assault acquittal speaks out

When she can’t sleep at night, the passenger at the centre of the Halifax taxi sexual assault acquittal said she opens her phone to read comments from hundreds of strangers, their support like a “blanket” of protection.

Since Judge Gregory Lenehan declared Bassam Al-Rawi not guilty last week, his comments like “clearly, a drunk can consent,” and the case evidence have sparked a national outcry, official complaints to the Chief Justice, and future protests.

“If a case is being decided by one person as opposed to a jury, that one person needs to be credible. And the kind of terms that (Lenehan) used and the statements that he made, are making people question that credibility. Kind of like how they were supposed to be questioning my credibility on the case,” said the woman in an interview with Metro on the weekend.

Her identity is protected by a publication ban.

“We need to believe beyond a reasonable doubt you were making a fair decision here, and I don’t think that people felt that way.”

The passenger, a woman in her 20s, said she’s seen many assume the case began with her complaint. In fact, she said the police brought charges forward after an officer found her drunk, unconscious and partially naked in the cab, and the Crown prosecuted. Her only involvement was being called to testify.

A forensic analyst determined the woman’s blood-alcohol level was as high as 241 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood - about three times the legal limit.

She said some people assumed she’d want Al-Rawi found guilty, but actually until the verdict she only hoped the judge would listen to testimony, examine the evidence, and come up with a “fair decision,” understanding few sexual assault cases end in conviction.

But last Thursday, the woman walked into work and read about the evidence in a Metro issue, as well as Lenehan’s comments the Crown had failed to prove she did not consent to sexual activity.

“That was definitely when the flames came up and I thought, ‘What? This is your reason?’ I was shocked,” she said, shaking her head.

“I just kind of went about my day kind of thing, but I was just in a fog.”

Lenehan’s phrase that “clearly, a drunk can consent” really hit her, the woman said, since the situation may be clear to Lenehan “but to the rest of the world you can’t really speak to that.”

The woman said she knows a judge can’t take into consideration someone’s typical patterns, only the evidence, but said with Lenehan’s comment there wasn’t enough proof of “lack of consent” he didn’t look at the case “logically.”

“A person who’s been out downtown all night, do you really think that the first person they would try to hook up with is a taxi cab driver they’ve never met before?” she said.

After reading the evidence, the woman said she felt “completely stripped naked,” and as if everyone was looking at her. It’s been an especially odd, “out-of-body” feeling to have friends and coworkers who don’t know she was the passenger bring it up, she said.

But online comments supporting the woman in the case, and calling for a review into Lenehan’s judgment, have been very comforting if she’s unable to sleep at night, she said.

“It makes me feel better. It’s like the city, especially women in the city but a lot of men too, have just been kind of forming this blanket around me like ‘We’re not going to stand by this,’” she said.

“If people weren’t … making their voices heard I think that verdict and all of that would have just been so much worse because it would’ve just felt like ‘Wow, the system’s broken and nobody’s here to fix it.”

She’s glad an official complaint has been made to the Chief Justice about Lenehan’s judgment, she said, and no matter what happens “as far as sexual assault cases go, specifically, he should have no part in those anymore.”