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HALIFAX, N.S. —

A Halifax-area taxi driver with a criminal record — now accused of sexually assaulting a child — is appealing the city’s decision to suspend his licence.

Donald Charles Swinimer, 50, of Lower Sackville, was charged Feb. 3 with sexual assault, sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and sexual exploitation.

According to documents filed in Dartmouth provincial court, the incidents are alleged to have occurred between Jan. 1, 2013 and Jan. 31, 2020. They all relate to a person under the age of 16 whose identity is protected by a publication ban.

Swinimer was released on $3,000 bail under conditions including that he not have any contact with the complainant or another person named in the documents. He’s also not to have contact with anyone under the age of 16, “except while in the course of your employment and in the immediate physical presence of a person over 18 years of age.”

In court March 9, Swinimer’s lawyer appeared on his behalf to ask for more time to decide how he wants to plead. Swinimer’s due back in court April 1.

Taxi licences suspended after charges

Halifax’s taxi and limousine licensing office was made aware of the charges against Swinimer Feb. 6, according to a report headed to council’s appeals standing committee March 12.

The office suspended Swinimer’s taxi driver’s and owner’s licences Feb. 6 and he immediately notified the municipality of his intent to appeal the suspension.

In a handwritten letter dated Feb. 6, Swinimer wrote that in writing the conditions for his release, a justice of the peace “took consideration that I was a taxi driver in HRM and made the conditions in my release order to enable me to work as a taxi driver in HRM.

“I am a law abiding citizen and will abide to these conditions with no exceptions,” Swinimer wrote.

But, according to provincial court records, Swinimer has a criminal record dating back to 1991, including convictions for assault, uttering threats, break and enter, mischief and, most recently, for impaired driving in 2012.

City tight-lipped ahead of appeal

Swinimer’s record raises questions about how he had a licence prior to the latest charges, but the city refused to grant SaltWire an interview with the licensing authority before the matter went to the appeals standing committee.

In an email, SaltWire asked when Swinimer was first licensed, whether his licence had been suspended before, which dispatcher he drove for, whether the municipality was aware of his 2012 impaired driving conviction and how many years a driver needs a clean record before getting a taxi licence.

City spokesperson Maggie-Jane Spray ignored specific questions about Swinimer in her response. Spray quoted a section of the city’s taxi bylaw that states the licensing authority “may suspend or revoke the owner’s license or driver’s license, or both, of any license holder, or refuse any applicant who ... has been convicted within the last ten years of a criminal offence."

“I will not be able to comment further on this case until the report has been reviewed at committee next week,” Spray wrote March 6.

Cab committee history

The committee is scheduled to decide whether to give Swinimer his licence back on Thursday. In the meantime, Halifax regional council is expected to debate a proposal at its meeting on Tuesday, March 10, for a new committee. That proposal would take taxi appeals away from the appeals standing committee — which has a history of granting licences back to drivers charged with or convicted of crimes.

In 2015, the appeals standing committee, composed of six councillors, unanimously voted to reinstate former taxi driver Bassam Al-Rawi’s licence. Al-Rawi was facing a sexual assault charge at the time that later made national headlines when a judge said in acquitting him, “Clearly, a drunk can consent.”

Al-Rawi was acquitted again on that charge last year and he was back in court last month for a sexual assault trial related to separate allegations from 2012. That trial is expected to resume in June.

Last May, a majority of councillors on the committee voted to allow Douglas James Brine, who has multiple convictions for assault with a weapon, to have his licence back.

And last September, Lesianu Zewdie Hweld — a taxi driver who got his licence back from the committee in July after a provincial driver’s licence suspension — was charged with sexually assaulting a woman in his taxi. Hweld pleaded not guilty to the charge and is expected to stand trial in November.

Want to know who is on the current committee? Here's the list and contact info.

Have a cab complaint? Call 311 or (902) 490-5020. Is it an emergency? Call 911.

Note the taxi licence number, required by law to be on a window sticker.



Zane Woodford is a Halifax-based journalist with SALT and SaltWire.com

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