A director of the Port Coquitlam mosque who was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman three years ago won’t be sentenced until November.
Saadeldin Bahr, who’s a doctor, was found guilty last month of assaulting the woman at the Masjid Al-Hidayah and Islamic Cultural Centre in June 2013. The incident occurred while he was counselling the victim, known as “Z” in court filings, who was struggling with depression.
According to the judge’s ruling, following afternoon prayers on the day of the incident, Bahr and Z went to a room in the upper floor of the mosque, where the assault took place. He told the victim that she had “a bad curse on you and we have to remove it.”
According to the ruling, Bahr suggested that semen found in the victim’s vagina could have come from a toilet seat at the mosque, where he said he had ejaculated earlier in the day. He also said that the victim’s DNA, which was found on his boxer shorts, may have been there because the woman put her hands down his pants.
In his reasons for judgement, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Robert Crawford said Bahr’s version of events lacked credibility.
“I have great difficulty with Dr. Bahr’s evidence,” Crawford said Wednesday during his reasons for judgement. “Much of what he said is contrary to fastidious cultural procedures.”
He later added: “He did not clean it up immediately? In his own church?”
Bahr’s sentencing hearing will begin at 10 a.m. on Nov. 4 and will be held in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster.
@gmckennaTC
