Yazidi leader no longer faces sex assault charge

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This article was published 07/03/2025 (249 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A prominent Yazidi community leader is no longer facing a charge of sexual assault.

Hadji Hesso, executive director of the Yazidi Association of Manitoba, appeared in a Winnipeg court Friday and agreed to a one-year peace bond, during which time he is to have no contact with the woman he was alleged to have assaulted.

The resolution was a joint recommendation of the Crown and defence, Hesso’s lawyer, Alex Steigerwald, told provincial court Judge Wanda Garreck.

No further details were provided to the court.

“I can’t confirm resolution discussions,” Steigerwald said outside court. “We came to an agreement between the Crown and defence to resolve it this way.”

If Hesso violates the peace bond, he can be charged criminally and ordered to pay $500.

Hesso has made a name for himself as a community leader who has raised awareness about the Kurdish religious minority group that’s been targeted by ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) in their homeland since the genocide against Yazidis began in 2014.

Hesso was charged with one count of sexual assault after a woman alleged he had sexually touched and groped her repeatedly without her consent at association events last summer.

Court previously heard Hesso had known the woman for about a decade, ever since she and her family arrived in Canada from Iraq.

Hesso was arrested Oct. 4 and released on an undertaking and then taken back into custody Oct. 17 after he was accused of breaching an order to have no contact with the woman.

Hesso was accused of sending a cousin to the woman’s home and offering her a bribe to drop the sexual assault charge, Crown attorney Larissa Campbell told provincial court Judge Cynthia Devine at a bail hearing on Oct. 18.

The cousin “also stated that if she didn’t accept the bribe, police would seek medical assistance to show she wasn’t a virgin and tarnish her reputation in the Yazidi community,” Campbell alleged.

Hesso was twice denied bail before winning his release Dec. 16.

Hesso declined to speak to a reporter Friday. Steigerwald said he maintains his innocence.

“Mr. Hesso feels vindicated to have the charges against him dropped by the Crown attorney, and he is eager to finally be able to put this matter behind him,” Steigerwald said.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca