Man appeals conviction for allegedly impersonating N.S. government employee

HALIFAX — A man convicted of hacking into a Nova Scotia government employee’s social media account and posting an antisemitic message that led to her firing has launched an appeal.

Samual Shaji received a conditional discharge last month after he was convicted of fraudulently impersonating Nargis DeMolitor.

Shaji had been hired to manage the provincial government employee’s social media accounts between January and March 2023, but court documents say the passwords for those accounts were changed after his contract ended.

The social media post, which referred to Israel’s role in the Israel-Hamas war, was made in October 2023, several months after court papers say Shaji completed his contract.

DeMolitor, a former Progressive Conservative candidate, was working for then immigration minister Jill Balser and was fired by a senior official in Premier Tim Houston’s office soon after the message appeared.

Shaji’s two-page notice of appeal claims that the trial judge made an error in his assessment of “third-party suspect evidence.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 22, 2026.

Devin Stevens, The Canadian Press