Human trafficking case going to trial in February

By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on July 11, 2023.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

A physician charged in relation to a two-year-old human trafficking case is set to stand trial early next year.

The matter for Ziyaad Noor was in Lethbridge Court of King’s Bench Monday, where Calgary lawyer James Hawkins confirmed the trial will run for five days beginning Feb. 5, 2024.

Noor is one of eight men and two youth who were charged in August of 2021 with numerous sex-related offences. Police reported several men groomed a 15-year-old girl and took her to various locations where sex offences took place. Many of the individuals also engaged in sexual activity with a 13-year-old girl, and three additional victims came forward later in connection with the investigation.

Noor, who practiced medicine in Lethbridge and Calgary, was released from custody Aug. 24, 2021 on $10,000 bail, with the promise to pay that amount should he breach any of the several conditions attached to his bail. He pleaded not guilty in March of 2022, and elected to be tried in Alberta Court of Justice on several sex-related charges, including trafficking in persons, and a trial was later scheduled to run in January of this year.

However, during a hearing in December, Noor re-elected to be tried by a Court of King’s Bench judge and jury with a preliminary inquiry, and the provincial court trial was vacated. The preliminary inquiry, which was scheduled to run last January, was also cancelled, and the Crown later announced it would proceed by direct indictment, which removes the option for a preliminary inquiry.

A preliminary hearing is typically held to determine whether there is enough evidence to warrant a trial.

Although Noor was initially charged with sexual contact with a child, sexual counsel of a child, sexual assault of a person under the age of 16, sexual assault causing bodily harm, aggravated sexual assault, trafficking in persons, and being party to sexual assault, the Crown is proceeding on only three of the charges; sexual contact with a child, sexual interference and sexual assault of a person under the age of 16.

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