RCMP constable accused of sexual assault pleads not guilty

A New Brunswick RCMP officer has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting a woman known to him.

Const. Osama Ibrahim of the Western Valley Region detachment in Woodstock is facing five charges: sexual assault, assault, the use of, or threat to use, a weapon during an assault, choking during an assault and breach of trust. 

In Saint John provincial court Wednesday, defence lawyer Charles Bryant appeared on behalf of Ibrahim's lawyer T. J. Burke to enter a plea of not guilty to all five charges.

The alleged assault happened between Dec. 1, 2021, and Feb. 23, 2022, in Saint John. The identity of the complainant is under a publication ban.

Ibrahim's trial is set for seven days in the fall of 2023, from Oct. 16 to 20 and on Nov. 2 and 3. 

A pre-trial conference is scheduled for September.

Independent police agency charges

The Saint John Police Force received the complaint against Ibrahim in April. Because of what the force learned in the initial investigation, and the nature of the allegations, it asked Nova Scotia's serious incident tesponse team to take on the case in May.

After four months of investigation, SIRT announced that it had found enough evidence to recommend charges. The Crown approved the charges, which were laid in September.

Ibrahim has not been in custody and did not appear in court Wednesday, as it's not mandatory for him to be there until trial.

Ibrahim was already on administrative duties because of a separate code of conduct complaint starting Feb. 22, RCMP previously said.

He was suspended, with pay, on June 3 because of the SIRT investigation.

The SIRT investigation resulted in more code of conduct charges, which are all being investigated by the RCMP's professional standards unit, the RCMP said.

"These are very serious allegations, and the New Brunswick RCMP is treating them as such," Cpl. Hans Ouellette said in a news release in September.

Nova Scotia's SIRT is handling most of the independent investigations into police actions until New Brunswick gets its own branch.