Rapists awaiting sentencing vanish

OTTAWA STUDENTS

OTTAWA• Two international students — both convicted in the gang rape of a young Ottawa woman — have skipped town and possibly the country.

Ousmane Kader Diarrassouba, 24, and Abdilahi Houd, 22, were convicted on June 28. Prosecutor Juliana Martel asked the judge to revoke their bail while they awaited sentencing but he refused.

The prosecutor then asked the judge to at least order the convicted rapists to surrender their passports.

Ontario Court Justice Robert Fournier gave them 72 hours to turn in their passports at Ottawa police headquarters, but they never showed and haven’t been seen since they walked out of the courthouse.

Fournier initially gave them 48 hours to hand over their passports, but because of a statutory holiday — Canada Day — the judge afforded them extra time.

Diarrassouba and Houd were granted bail while awaiting trial and given the chance to finish their degrees.

Arrest warrants have been issued for the fugitives, according to court records, and the Canada Border Services Agency has been asked to investigate if and how the pair fled the country.

At trial earlier this year, Fournier heard different stories about consent on the day the young woman said she had been raped by two men in October 2017.

The woman said she felt like a meaningless object when the men started talking about having a threesome because it was one of their birthdays, and she would be the gift. She declined and clearly said she wasn’t interested but they didn’t stop.

She felt like she was not “psychologically present” at the time, the judge said. The woman was left distraught and withdrawn, and the judge noted her emotional and psychological scars.

The judge also highlighted that the victim did not waiver during a “relentless” cross-examination by defence lawyer Oliver Abergel.

Both men testified at trial. The judge didn’t buy their stories, and ruled they had embellished them in a “very careful and calculated fashion.”

After the two men were convicted, they failed to show up for court dates in July and August.