PHOTO: CBC
A Pakistani man convicted of sexual assault in Canada has fled the country before his sentencing hearing.
Moazzam Tariq, 29, flew to Pakistan from Montreal, two weeks before the hearing. He was found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman in Toronto who was too intoxicated to give consent.
A crown prosecutor informed the court on Thursday that Tariq had fled to Pakistan. Although Tariq had handed over his passport to the police following his conviction, he used a second Pakistani passport travel to Pakistan, the Crown said.
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Further, the Crown informed the court that this was not the first time Tariq has fled after committing a crime. In 2010, Tariq escaped to Pakistan after being charged with dangerous driving in Brampton. Lawyer Trevin David said it was "extremely rare" for an accused or convicted criminal to flee during an ongoing trial.
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Tariq had met the woman in July, 2015 at the Everleigh nightclub in Toronto. Video footage submitted as evidence showed him pouring vodka from a bottle into the woman's mouth multiple times. The video also showed the woman shoving away the bottle at one point.
Tariq then took the intoxicated woman to the Thompson Hotel. The court later ruled that the victim "did not have the capacity to consent and therefore did not consent." The Crown is pursuing a three-year jail sentence for Tariq.
This article originally appeared on CBC.
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