Convicted N.S. sex offender captured in Italy, returned to Canada

Authorities in Italy have captured a Canadian fugitive who fled a sexual assault conviction in Nova Scotia.

In a statement issued Monday, the Public Prosecution Service of Nova Scotia said Bassam Al-Rawi was returned to Canada on Sept. 5 to serve the remainder of a two-year sentence.

The former taxi driver had been arrested in Italy in September of last year.

"It seems that he at least travelled to Italy as part of a family vacation and that's how he was picked up there," Crown prosecutor Jennifer MacLellan said Monday.

The family was vacationing in the San Martino Buon Albergo region of Verona, about 100 kilometres west of Venice, when Al-Rawi was arrested, and MacLellan said he spent the last year in custody in Italy fighting his extradition. Last week, the Italian Court of Appeal rejected those efforts.

Al-Rawi was convicted in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in August 2020 for a sexual assault he committed eight years earlier in Bedford, N.S. Court heard Al-Rawi had picked up a woman in his taxi and taken her back to his apartment where he sexually assaulted her.

He served only a couple of months of his two-year sentence because he was released on conditions while appealing the conviction with the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal.

Al-Rawi was returned to custody in December 2021 after the Appeal Court refused to overturn his conviction. However, he was released again the following February while his lawyer prepared an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Fled Canada with wife, son

His release conditions included that he live with his surety in Ottawa. Rather than abide by those conditions, Al-Rawi fled to Montreal where he met up with his wife and young son. The prosecution service said in its statement the family then fled to Iraq.

The prosecution service remarked that one year from arrest to extradition is "a remarkable achievement."

"If you are so fortunate as to be released on bail, that you have to abide by those conditions and if you don't abide by those conditions and you do flee, then you will be sought," MacLellan said.

"And in this case we're pleased that Mr. Al-Rawi has been brought back to Canada to face justice."

This was the second sexual assault charge Al-Rawi faced. He was acquitted in the other case, twice, following separate trials.

His first acquittal generated controversy when the judge commented that "clearly a drunk can consent." A different judge in a second trial also acquitted Al-Rawi.