The Supreme Court of Canada will hear an appeal from an Alberta man who was convicted of sexual assault after police had him swab his penis for DNA from the victim.
Ali Hassan Saeed was arrested and charged with sexual assault and sexual interference in 2011 after a complaint from a 15-year-old.
While he was in custody, police had him swab his penis for DNA and matched it to the victim.
The trial judge ruled this was an illegal search, but said the results were admissible because the police did not act in bad faith and society has a high interest in seeing justice in cases of sexual assault.
Saeed was convicted and the Alberta Court of Appeal upheld the ruling, citing several precedents.
As is usual in leaves to appeal, the Supreme Court gave no reasons for agreeing to hear the appeal.
