Charges have been dismissed against a man who was accused of attacking a Halifax hotel worker in February 2016.
Mostafa M.Y. Hussien, 32, of Halifax was found guilty in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in May 2018 of sexually assaulting and forcibly confining the female employee. He was sentenced in May 2019 to two years in prison but was granted bail a month later pending an appeal of his convictions.
The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal overturned the convictions this September with the consent of the Crown, which had recently advised Hussien’s lawyer that it was in possession of records pertaining to the complainant that were “likely relevant” to the case.
Had the existence of the records been known at trial, Hussien could have applied to compel their production, the Appeal Court said in quashing the convictions and ordering a new trial.
On Thursday, a prosecutor told a Supreme Court judge that the Crown would not be offering evidence against Hussien at a second trial.
Justice Denise Boudreau, the same judge who had earlier convicted Hussien, then dismissed the charges.
Calgary lawyer Rame Katrib appeared in court by phone on behalf of Hussien.
“My client has adamantly maintained his innocence since the beginning of the prosecution,” Katrib told The Chronicle Herald.
“We’re very happy that he is no longer facing these charges, that he’s an innocent man. He wanted to clear his name.”
The complainant alleged Hussien attacked her on the evening of Feb. 8, 2016, after telling her he had locked himself out of his room. She said that after she opened the door to his room, he asked her to check out the shower because it was not draining properly.
The woman testified at trial that after Hussien turned on the hot water in the tub, he pressed her up against the wall and tried to kiss her. She said he forced her onto the bed and tried to make her perform oral sex before she got away and finished her shift.
She texted her manager and a close friend right away to tell them about the incident and called police the next day.
