Three men accused of sexual assault in Hay River, N.W.T., in 2022 were found not guilty in N.W.T. Supreme Court on Friday.
The three men — Maher Sellemi, Amine Zahi, and Hassen Zellama — were present in court when Judge Vital Ouelette read his verdict. All three embraced their lawyers, and one of the men could be seen wiping tears away.
In his decision, Judge Vital Ouelette cited inconsistencies and gaps in the testimony of the two women who alleged they were assaulted as the reason for the acquittal, and stressed that proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt is needed for a conviction in criminal trials.
In July 2022, Sellemi and Zellama were each charged with two counts of sexual assault while Zahi was charged with one count of sexual assault. According to the Crown, the three met the two alleged victims at the Hay River Legion Branch over drinks early in the morning of July 3, and later all five went to an apartment belonging to one of the accused men.
The following day, the two women filed a complaint with the RCMP. Their identities are protected under a court-ordered publication ban.
The judge-only trial was conducted over five days and was conducted in French, with some English translation. The judge heard testimony from the lead RCMP investigator on the case, the two alleged victims, and the three accused men. Two witnesses who saw the alleged victims before and after the alleged assault also testified.
The two women accusers both testified that while they were at the house with the men, the men removed their clothes and touched them without their consent.
The defence argued that the women’s account of events was inaccurate, and that the women consented to go to the apartment with the three men, and themselves initiated sexual contact, first with one another and then with the men.
Testimony of alleged victims unreliable, judge says
In his reasoning for his decision, Ouelette said he arrived at the “not guilty” verdict because of his concerns about the testimony of the two victims. He characterized their testimony as pas fiable, meaning untrustworthy or unreliable.
He said the account of the second woman who testified at the trial was so untrustworthy that he believed it should be thrown out altogether.
Both women testified that they were highly intoxicated at the time of the alleged assault and had gaps in their recollections of that night.
But Ouelette said that other evidence contradicted that, pointing to a surveillance video of the two women and the three men leaving the Hay River Legion which showed all five walking normally without stumbling or otherwise showing signs of intoxication, and another video which showed one of the complainants speaking clearly to Zahi.
Other surveillance video showed one of the women speaking with one of the three men in what appeared to be a clear and coherent way, he said. Two witnesses who were at the Hay River Legion on the evening of the alleged assault also testified that no one in the group of five appeared overly intoxicated, he added.
Given this, he said that the women’s statements that they did not remember significant details, including how the alleged assaults began or whether they had consented to go to the house with the men, cast doubt on their credibility.
He also pointed to one instance in which the women gave an account of what happened that night and how they left the house to two other women who had picked them up later that night, and that account differed from what they later told the court.
Ouelette said that in contrast, the testimony of the three men, who said that the women initiated sexual contact and that there had been no non-consensual sexual touching, was internally consistent and not contradicted by any outside proof.
