with whom he had had sex for 10 hours wept as he was spared jail in Britain.
Ali Farhani, 53, of Mayfair, London, was found guilty of false imprisonment and given a four-month suspedned prison term.
The Old Bailey, London’s historic courthouse, heard the teenager was taken to Farhani’s house late at night in July 2008.
She said that after they had performed sex, he locked her in the bedroom until the following evening.
The court heard she sent Farhani a text saying “Can I go out now please?’’ but there was no reply. She said she was “desperate’’ to use the bathroom and the heat in the room was making her feel ill.
But when she called Farhani, he said: “You haven’t been on the phone? Nobody knows you are here, do they?’’
The court heard that when the businessman returned just before 6 p.m., he asked her, “What’s the hurry?’’ and suggested she stay for another drink.
Farhani said he had believed the girl to be a prostitute—saying he used prostitutes because he was too busy for a social life—and that he had locked her in because he did not want her walking around his commercial properties.
He was earlier acquitted of a similar allegation relating to a woman applying for a job in his hotel business in December 2009.
Judge Martin Stephens said the behavior he had been convicted of was “totally unacceptable’’ and he considered it a “very serious matter.’’ He told Farhani: “I do suggest that you should learn a lesson about the way you treat young women whom you invite into your premises because a very sinister interpretation could be put on what you say are entirely innocent activities.’’
