The following story contains details of sexual assault

The trial of two men accused of trafficking a Bangladeshi woman to work at restaurants in small-town Saskatchewan met another delay Friday.

Defence counsel was expected to have a chance to cross-examine the complainant, a woman whose name is protected under a publication ban. Instead, the Crown revealed its key witness, former Sask. Party MLA Hugh Nerlien, planned to leave the country – permanently.

The trial, which started in September and was expected to take five days, has been plagued with delays, as the court had issues finding an appropriate Bengali translator for the complainant, with proceedings restarting this week.

On Monday, the defence filed a Jordan application, asking the judge to throw out the case for breaching the Charter rights of the accused to be tried within a reasonable time. His written decision on that application is expected to be delivered at a later date.

Now, with a key witness set to leave the country, the Crown asked to delay the defence lawyers’ cross-examination of the complainant so Nerlien can be brought in to testify before he leaves.

The defence questioned why the Crown was asking to delay proceedings once again, if the prosecutors already had a “vague notion” Nerlien might leaving the country. They said there were extenuating personal circumstances for their witness.

After a brief recess, presiding Judge Miguel Martinez agreed to bring Nerlien in early, adjourning the trial until Tuesday, with the defence expected to get an opportunity to cross-examine the complainant on Wednesday.

“Trials are sometimes dynamic and unpredictable creatures,” said Martinez, who described his role in ensuring the trial was fair for both the accused, and the Crown and complainant.

“A fair trial is not necessarily an ideal trial.”

The two accused, Mohammad Masum and Sohel Haider, were each charged on June 29, 2023, with one count of trafficking a woman to work at restaurants in Tisdale, Gull Lake and Elrose. Masum also faces three counts of sexual assault.

When the trial began in September, the woman testified Masum sexually assaulted her two weeks after she arrived to work in Tisdale, approaching her in the walk-in cooler, putting his arms around her and kissing her neck.

Later, she told court he drove her to a secluded place and had her sit in the back seat of his car, where he removed her pants and raped her.

On Wednesday, the complainant testified she was required to work up to 12 hours a day, between five and six days a week for just $1,000 a month, plus accommodations and a few meals a day.

When she was later brought to work at Bob’s Diner in Elrose, she told court she was given a room in a cold, unfinished basement, where she slept for several days on a mattress on the floor without bed sheets or pillows.