A Halifax woman went back to sleep after her alarm woke her up at 7 o’clock on the morning of June 1, 2018.
The next thing she recalls is her blankets being ripped off by a stranger standing at her bedside, naked except for a baseball cap and basketball sneakers.
That man was Sem Paul Obed, a repeat sex offender who knew her female roommate.
Clenching a fist, Obed told her not to scream and said he was going to hurt her.
She tried to fight him off by pushing, kicking, hitting and scratching him but was unable to defend herself. Obed punched her five or six times near her left eye and tried to strangle her by putting both his hands around her neck.
At some point in the struggle, the woman fell to the floor between her bed and the wall, with Obed on top of her. He pulled off her pajama pants and underwear and began raping her.
The woman is unsure what time it was when she woke up to the sight of Obed standing over her, but she estimates the attack lasted more than an hour.
Details of the sexual assault were read aloud Thursday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax, where Obed pleaded guilty to four charges rather than go to trial in front of a jury next week.
The 49-year-old, who’s originally from Happy Valley-Goose Bay, N.L., accepted responsibility for a charge of break and enter and committing the indictable offence of aggravated sexual assault.
He also pleaded guilty to counts of choking to overcome resistance, aggravated sexual assault and breaching the terms of a peace bond by consuming or possessing alcohol.
Prosecutor Sean McCarroll told the court the Crown intends to apply for a psychiatric assessment to determine whether Obed meets the criteria for a dangerous offender.
McCarroll said the Crown hopes to be ready to apply for that assessment when the case returns to court Feb. 14.
The forensic psychiatrist would then have 60 days to assess Obed and upwards of 30 more days to submit a report on his risk to reoffend.
If Obed is declared a dangerous offender, the judge could impose an indeterminate prison sentence.
The attack happened at an apartment on Cunard Street, near the Halifax Common. The victim’s identity is protected by a publication ban.
Obed showed little reaction as the prosecutor described the incident to Justice Robert Wright.
McCarroll said Obed asked the victim how old she was, what her name was and when she had last had sex. The woman could smell alcohol and cigarettes on his breath and noted that he had a bottle of Crown Royal whiskey with him.
Obed dragged the woman to her roommate's bedroom during the assault and into the living room, where she looked at a mirror and saw blood running down her face from an open cut on her left eyebrow. He told her it was her fault she had been cut because she fought back.
The woman begged Obed to leave but he resumed sexually assaulting her before asking if she wanted to be his girlfriend and if she wanted to come over to his house later.
Obed eventually agreed to leave and whispered in her ear “bye, take care.” He said her roommate had his number if she wanted to call him.
The woman locked the door after he left. She phoned her ex-boyfriend and then called 911 at 11:54 a.m. She provided police with a detailed description of her attacker and told them that he knew her roommate and seemed familiar with the apartment.
The victim was taken to hospital, where she underwent a sexual assault exam and received six stitches to close the wound on her left eyebrow.
Police contacted the roommate, who was out of town. She confirmed that the man lived in the Fairview area of Halifax.
Officers arrested Obed at his residence on McFatridge Road at about 4:30 p.m. He had dried blood on his face that was later confirmed to match the victim’s DNA.
The woman’s DNA was also found on Obed’s penis. Swabs of the woman’s vagina and anus turned up Obed’s DNA.
A sexual assault nurse examiner noted that the victim had lacerations around her eyebrows, bite marks on her right jaw line and breasts, abrasions on both sides of her neck, her left buttock and her right arm, and bruises on her face, chest, tailbone, left arm and both legs.
Defence lawyer Brad Sarson said Obed took no issue with the facts recited by the Crown.
“I can advise the court that he was highly intoxicated at the time of the incident,” Sarson said of his client. “He doesn’t recall all of what took place, but he’s not disputing those facts.”
Obed has an extensive criminal record going back to the 1980s that includes multiple convictions for sexual assault. He was considered a high risk to reoffend in a sexual and violent manner when he was released from prison and took up residence in Halifax in August 2014, police said in a public notification at the time.
In that advisory, police said Obed’s record included convictions for attempted murder, sexual assault, aggravated assault, assault causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon.
Halifax police had also issued a high-risk offender notification in November 1999 after Obed was released from a New Brunswick prison. He had served every day of a 70-month sentence for attempted murder, sexual assault, aggravated assault, possession of a weapon and break and enter.
The Crown obtained a two-year peace bond against Obed in Dartmouth provincial court in August 2016.
