Halifax taxi driver pleads not guilty to sexually assaulting passenger

A Halifax taxi driver has pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexual assault.

Mearig Fasil Markos, 28, is accused of sexually assaulting a female passenger in Dartmouth in the early morning hours of April 10, after picking her up in Halifax.

The woman reported the incident to police the next day. Markos was arrested May 18 and released on an undertaking to police.

The case was first in Dartmouth provincial court in July.

Lawyer Leora Lawson entered the not-guilty plea for Markos on Monday. Judge Jill Hartlen scheduled the trial for three days next June.

Markos’s undertaking prohibits contact with the complainant, whose identity is protected by a publication ban. He also must stay away from her residence and places of employment or education.