Pimp convicted of trying to bribe witness
CELLMATES: Reza Moazami and convicted murderer found guilty of obstructing justice
A notorious Vancouver pimp has been convicted of trying to bribe a witness not to testify against him at his high-profile prostitution trial.
Reza Moazami got a cellmate at the North Fraser Pre-Trial Centre, convicted murderer Babak Najafi-Chaghabouri, to contact a friend outside the prison to approach a witness who can be identified only by the initials S.W. because of a publication ban.
In a ruling released Thursday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Gregory Bowden concluded that the friend told S.W. that Moazami was prepared to pay a $5,000 bribe for her to approach his lawyer and recant her evidence against him.
Moazami was prepared to pay a further $5,000 to have S.W. not testify at trial and more money if other witnesses could also be persuaded not to testify, court heard.
Bowden found Moazami, who is serving a 23-year prison term for running a prostitution ring, and Najafi-Chaghabouri, who is serving a life sentence for using a hatchet to kill a drug dealer, both guilty of attempting to obstruct justice.
The judge also found Moazami guilty of breach of recognizance for having indirect contact with one of the female complainants in the prostitution case.
The offences occurred between August and October 2012, before Moazami’s trial on the prostitution offences.
Much of the case hinged on phone calls made by Najafi-Chaghabouri from prison to a friend, which were intercepted by police.
The friend, identified as Azita Nazemi, asks Najafi-Chaghabouri at one point what she has to convince S.W. to say about Moazami.
Najafi-Chaghabouri replies that S.W. needs to say that she lied to the police because she was mad at Moazami and that her previous statement was made up.
Nazemi was initially also charged, but had the charges later dropped, and at trial said she had not been offered anything in exchange for her testimony.
S.W., who reported the attempted bribe to police, testified at Moazami’s prostitution trial that when she was 16 years old Moazami regularly verbally abused her as a means of intimidating her to work as a prostitute for him, and that he assaulted her on several occasions.
The abuse prompted her to attempt suicide by jumping off an apartment balcony.
Moazami was convicted of 30 criminal charges, including human-trafficking, sexual exploitation, sexual assault and living off the avails of prostitution. His 11 victims in the prostitution ring ranged in age from 14 to 19.