Guard headed back to court
Court of appeal overturns his acquittal on 2009 sexual-assault charges
A security guard at Vancouver General Hospital, who was found not guilty of sexually assaulting and sexually exploiting a female patient, has had his acquittal overturned and a new trial ordered on appeal.
Mohammad Rafe Alsadi, 27, was charged following a December 2009 incident at the hospital involving a 49-year-old schizophrenic woman, who can’t be identified due to a publication ban.
The alleged victim had been involuntarily admitted to the hospital’s psychiatric ward and had suffered from schizophrenia for 30 years.
At trial the Crown conceded she was capable of consenting to sexual activity and the provincial court trial judge, who isn’t identified in a B.C. Court of Appeal ruling, concluded she had done so.
The trial judge didn’t accept the complainant’s version of events but did accept Alsadi’s version.
Alsadi claimed that while he was patrolling the hospital grounds on his bicycle, he came upon the woman smoking a cigarette near an entrance.
Alsadi said that she made comments suggesting she was attracted to him and he suggested they go inside the hospital.
He testified that once inside the hospital, she hugged him and kissed him before he used his keys to enter a locked daycare centre.
Inside the centre, Alsadi said that he first asked the woman if she wanted to have sex before they indulged themselves.
A complaint was filed against Alsadi, an employee with Paladin Security, and he was suspended and charged. He was acquitted of the charges, but the Crown appealed.
A key issue on appeal was whether or not Alsadi incited or induced the alleged victim to engage in the sexual activity by abusing a position of trust, power or authority.
“I do not think the judge addressed this question; instead he focused on the nature and extent of the respondent’s authority and the fact the complainant was a willing participant,” B.C. Court of Appeal Justice Edward Chiasson said in a ruling released Tuesday.