Haider Ali, 37, fled Australia for Pakistan during his rape trial and was on the run for two years
Haider Ali spent two years overseas after fleeing his Canberra rape trial in 2017 and will have to wait behind bars to find out how much time in jail his failure to appear will cost him.
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An alleged rapist who fled to Pakistan in the middle of his sex offence trial will have to wait at least four months behind bars to find out how much time in jail his failure to appear will cost him.
Former public servant Haider Ali, 37, fronted the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday where Magistrate James Lawton sent Ali back to prison on remand, and said he would sentence the dual citizen after the conclusion of his upcoming retrial.
“Probably that’s the pragmatic way to approach it,” Mr Lawton said.
Ali in 2017 failed to appear for the final days of his Supreme Court rape and indecency trial when he flew to Pakistan to see his ill father.
The jury, in Ali’s absence, cleared him of one indecency charge and was unable to reach a verdict on the rape and two indecency charges.
After nearly two years on the run, Ali was arrested in England in July as he prepared to return to Australia.
He was extradited to Canberra in October and was refused bail last month.
Ali’s barrister, Richard Thomas, yesterday told the Magistrates Court his client fled only to see his ill father, and not to avoid justice.
Mr Thomas said there had been no cost to the public, because the Supreme Court trial was not aborted.
“Clearly it’s an egregious breach (of the law) and clearly it will incur some level of condign punishment,” Mr Thomas said.
“He felt a familial obligation to return to Pakistan and see his father.
“It wasn’t (fleeing) from the trial as such, it but the family circumstances that made him do it.”
Ali’s retrial is expected to run for three or four days from April 6.
Mr Lawton is expected to sentence Ali on the failure to appear charge on April 15.