An Ontario decide has sentenced an Iraqi Uber driver to 10 months in jail for sexually assaulting his passenger who was simply on the lookout for a experience dwelling from a celebration.
The Ontario Court docket of Justice heard a lady engaged Sevan Halabi’s providers as an Uber driver on Oct. 9, 2022. Halabi, who’s a everlasting resident of Canada, was angling for a lighter sentence to keep away from deportation.
“She wished him to drive her dwelling from a celebration she’d attended. Relatively than take her dwelling, the offender drove her to an empty car parking zone,” Justice Scott Pratt wrote in a current determination out of Windsor.
“He advised her they’d have enjoyable. He parked the automobile and obtained into the again seat. He moved nearer to the sufferer and forcibly kissed her. He put his hand underneath her gown and touched her vaginal space over her underwear.”
Halabi ignored the girl’s protests, Pratt mentioned.
“After he tried once more to kiss her and he or she didn’t reply, he moved away from her,” mentioned the decide.
“She requested if he would nonetheless drive her dwelling and he mentioned no. She obtained out of the automobile, and he left her within the car parking zone.”
The married father of two had requested the decide for a sentence of six months much less a day to keep away from immigration penalties.
“I’m not unsympathetic to the offender’s household,” Pratt mentioned in a choice dated April 3.
“For my part, nevertheless, a sentence of six months much less a day for this conduct could be unfit. It might prioritize the offender’s private circumstances over the necessity to denounce and deter his conduct and wouldn’t be in keeping with related case legislation. It might be an inappropriate and synthetic sentence imposed solely to keep away from legit penalties created by Parliament.”
In response to the Immigration and Refugee Safety Act, everlasting residents might be deemed “inadmissible” to Canada for “severe criminality” in the event that they’re sentenced to greater than six months in jail.
However six months much less a day plus probation — the sentence Halabi’s lawyer argued unsuccessfully for — doesn’t mirror the seriousness of his actions, Pratt mentioned.
“It might require me to chop the sentence almost in half, solely to help him in avoiding future penalties,” mentioned the decide. “I can’t do this.”
In laying out the explanations for his sentence, the decide referred to different related instances from the current previous.
“It’s troubling that sexual offences dedicated by skilled drivers are sufficiently frequent that they’ve created their very own physique of case legislation,” Pratt mentioned. “However that’s what has occurred.”
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The Crown argued Halabi ought to get a yr in jail, adopted by three years of probation.
Halabi was born in Iraq.
“He married his partner in 2009, mentioned the decide. “They’ve two sons, aged 10 and 14.”
They immigrated to Canada in 2018.
“His spouse and kids have since grow to be Canadian residents, however (Halabi) stays a everlasting resident,” Pratt mentioned.
“In submissions, the offender’s counsel suggested he was unable to use for citizenship due to the cost earlier than this courtroom.”
Halabi maintained his innocence to the writer of a pre-sentence report.
However he advised the decide “he regrets what occurred, has discovered a lesson, and that this won’t occur once more,” mentioned the choice.
“I don’t know what occurred between the (pre-sentence report) interview and the current, however to me the offender has now expressed regret,” Pratt mentioned. “I’ve no purpose to doubt his sincerity, however it’s a marked change from a report dated (Feb. 5).”
The sufferer learn a press release in courtroom.
“It reveals the continuing and pervasive affect the offence has had on her,” mentioned the decide. “She nonetheless suffers from panic assaults and flashbacks. The offence has hindered her skilled life as a trainer and her private life as effectively. She is fearful and indignant. She didn’t know if she could be raped or killed (in Halabi’s automobile that evening), and that worry continues to affect her life.”
Halabi has “proven some extent of regret,” Pratt mentioned. “He mentioned he regrets what occurred and that he has discovered his lesson. It’s not clear, nevertheless, if that remorse stems from his actions or from the implications he has introduced on his household.”
Halabi’s kids had been in courtroom for the sentencing submissions.
“On that time, each kids had been visibly upset and crying in the course of the continuing,” Pratt mentioned. “Respectfully, I query why they had been right here within the first place. It was not a case the place their father was in custody and so this might have been a uncommon alternative to see him in individual; (Halabi) has been out of custody all through this case and solely appeared just about from Iraq. I can’t discover they had been introduced into the courtroom to engender sympathy from the courtroom however given the offender’s deal with how my sentence might have an effect on his household, that’s definitely an inference out there to be drawn.”
Pratt noticed Halabi’s “very vital” breach of belief as an aggravating issue within the case.
“Your entire enterprise mannequin of Uber and related firms is to contact a stranger over the web so you will get of their automobile,” mentioned the decide. “It goes towards all the pieces we’re taught and all the pieces we educate about staying secure. Because of this, the belief we essentially place in these drivers is big. When that belief is damaged with legal actions, courts should reply harshly.”
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