in Mexico pleaded guilty Monday in Canada to sexually assaulting two teenage girls in Vancouver and was sentenced to five years in prison.
One of the rapes Farhan Farhadi confessed to took place more than eight years ago, but he wasn’t tried until now because he was in a Mexican jail serving seven years for two rapes there.
Farhadi’s lawyer said his 36-year-old client had a very difficult childhood living in Iran during the Iran-Iraq war and had been physically and sexually assaulted in his youth.
Farhadi gave a tearful address to the court, expressing remorse and saying he would take whatever sex offender programs were available to him in prison.
Farhadi first raped an 18-year-old Washington-state student in 2003 in his vehicle in Vancouver, British Columbia. The victim had earlier been at a Vancouver nightclub with friends, had been drinking alcohol and had danced with several men.
The court was told the victim was seen leaving the nightclub with Farhadi, but she had no recollection of that.
Farhadi twice had forceful oral sex and forceful vaginal intercourse with her, slapping her at one point. Farhadi then drove her back to her hotel where she called police and an ambulance and was taken to the hospital.
Farhadi was interviewed by police but not arrested then.
Several months later, he traveled to Mexico, where he was arrested for sexual assaults of two women—a Canadian and an American—in Cancun.
He was convicted and sentenced to seven years in jail. While in Mexico, a warrant was issued for his arrest in connection with the first rape. After serving his time, Farhadi returned to Canada.
A job application requiring a criminal record check revealed the outstanding arrest warrant.
Arrested, Farhadi was out on bail awaiting trial when he raped a 17-year-old girl last October in his mother’s North Vancouver apartment after he’d drugged the girl.
She blacked out and awoke to find Farhadi on top of her, forcing himself on her.
In a victim-impact statement read in court, the first victim said her “entire life” had been turned upside-down by the assault. She said she was unable to finish classes and couldn’t be out in public for fear that someone would attack her. She started therapy after the assault and has been in therapy ever since.
“I struggle with what he did to me on a daily basis. The course of my life has been altered by what this horrible person did to me. I was fearful and in a daze for the first few years after being kidnapped and raped.”
The prosecution and defense agreed that a five-year prison term was appropriate.
Justice Deborah Kloegman said the circumstances of the case were “very disturbing” and “at first blush” a five-year jail term might seem inadequate. She noted that the B.C. Court of Appeal had set a range of four-to-six years for such offence.
