Two people identify former Halifax taxi driver in video with sex assault complainant

The trial of a former Halifax taxi driver has heard from two people who identified him insecurity video footage with the woman who accused him of sexual assault.

Bassam Al-Rawi appeared in Nova Scotia Supreme Court on Tuesday for the fourth day of a trial related to allegations that heraped a woman in his apartment in December 2012.

The 35-year-old complainant has testified she drove to Halifax from Pictou County on Dec. 14, 2012, with a group of friends. She alleges she was assaulted by the driver in his apartment early on Dec. 15 while she was highly intoxicated and pretending to be unconscious.

This is the second time Al-Rawi has been charged with sexual assault in Halifax. Last September, he was found not guilty in a retrial of a case that gained national attention and involved accusations he sexually assaulted a woman in his cab in 2015.

Building managerconfirmsAl-Rawiwas a tenant

On Tuesday, Crown attorney Carla Ball called David Vieth as a witness. Viethtestified that in 2012he was the building manager for 40 Bedros Lane, an apartment buildingoff Larry Uteck Boulevard near the Bedford Highway.

Vieth said the building was seven storeystall with a total of 76 units, andAl-Rawi lived in unit 306while using the number 10 underground parking spot. However, Vieth noted there was no paperwork for that space as they gave it to him for free.

He would see Al-Rawi a few times a week and say hello briefly, Vieth said. When asked about his nationality, Vieth said he assumed Al-Rawi was from Saudi Arabia, and described him as about six-feet tall and bald.

Vieth said Al-Rawi was a taxi driver who used a Nissan Altima. He said he'd personally been been taken home once by Al-Rawi after a Christmas party in 2012.

When asked about other taxi drivers living in the building, Vieth said there was a white man in his fifties with grey hair living on the first floor, and another driver on the sixth floor called Nader who also had grey hair.

Ball played the security video from the building's parking garage on the night of the alleged assaultfor Vieth, which showed a woman getting out of a taxi and walking away beside a man. The complainant has identified herself as the woman in the video.

Vieth said he recognized the cab as it pulled into spot 10, which belonged to Al-Rawi, and identified Al-Rawiby his walk, height, and white sweater.

Under cross-examination from defence lawyer Ian Hutchison, Vieth agreed that when he first spoke to police he identified the man in the video as "Abdul."

At the time in 2012, Vieth testified that he thought of the man in unit 306 as Abdul, and only later learned his full name was Bassam Al-Rawi.

However, Vieth testified although he did not know his name, he could recognize Al-Rawi from a picture "no problem."

It's'obvious' Al-Rawiis invideo: roommate

The court also heard on Tuesday from Ala Hadad, who said he was Al-Rawi's roommate in 2012 and lived in the unit's second bedroom.

Hadad, 66, said he is a retired taxi driver and helped get Al-Rawi into the cab industry after meeting him through the Halifax Muslim community. They are both originally from Iraq.

At the time in 2012, Hadad said Al-Rawi was using his Nissan Altima and renting hisrooflight 062to work as a driver, and would usually use the underground parking garage.

He testified he'd seen Al-Rawi drink and smoke cigarettes when they lived together. Although Hadad never saw him smoke cannabis, he said the apartment did smell like "dope."

The complainant has said Al-Rawirolled a cannabis joint for them to smoke on the night of the alleged assault.

Hadad also said he recognized Al-Rawi as the man walking with a woman through the garage, as well as through the apartment lobby in another video. Although Hadad agreed with Hutchisonthat he couldn't see any faces in the video, he said it was "obvious" the man was Al-Rawi.

The trial continues Wednesday.