Richmond man guilty of assaulting women he lured as models
COURT: Richmond resident found guilty of assaulting five victims pretended to be in modelling industry
One of his sexual assault victims described him as being well-dressed and well-groomed, acting professionally and looking the part of a modelling agent.
Novid Dadmand lured the woman, known only as D.T. by court order, to his Richmond home and sexually assaulted her, a judge has concluded.
D.T. testified that Dadmand told her he was from Italy and had moved to Canada at his agency’s request to find models. She said Dadmand gave her a false name and the impression he was gay and not sexually attracted to her.
Dadmand’s lawyers said at the trial that D.T. and several other complainants understood the nature of the sexual activities as being part of the auditions, which included the possibility of pornographic work. They argued that while the accused’s actions may have been immoral, they were not illegal because the victims consented.
But B.C. Supreme Court Justice Paul Perlman disagreed and found Dadmand guilty of sexually assaulting five women, four of them by deceiving them into believing he was a modelling agent and they were auditioning for a position as a model.
Two of the victims were unconscious when Dadmand sexually assaulted them, and that was captured on video recordings seized by police from the accused.
In D.T.’s case, Dadmand contacted her through Facebook in March 2012, telling her she looked a lot like a woman who had recently done a guest shoot for him.
D.T., a 19-year-old university student and aspiring model, thought she was too short to be a model but when Dadmand told her that personality and drive were more important than height, she thought someone was giving her a chance for a modelling career.
Dadmand persuaded her to do an audition and picked her up at the Richmond-Brighouse SkyTrain station and drove her to his home, saying his studio was not available.
At the home and during the course of an “audition,” he touched her sexually.
“I find that the accused induced D.T. to accompany him to an unfamiliar location under the pretext that she would be auditioning for a modelling job,” the judge said.
“He did not explain to her that the audition would involve sexual contact with him and did not obtain her consent before he touched her. The accused failed to obtain her clear and unequivocal consent before touching her sexually.”
A second victim, identified only as S.T., testified that she was contacted by a man who identified himself as a model on a dating website.
The man, who provided photos of himself depicting a heavily tattooed male, encouraged her to consider modelling and meet with his agent.
Later, the “agent,” who turned out to be Dadmand, contacted her and told her she could make a lot of money modelling.
S.T. was skeptical and did not want to meet him, but in April 30, 2012, she contacted him after she’d been taken to St. Paul’s Hospital after ingesting cocaine and a large quantity of alcohol and needed someone to drive her home.
Dadmand picked her up and took her to his apartment in Richmond, where they sat and drank wine in his living room and he talked to her about signing a modelling contract.
S.T. did not remember him taking photos of her or a video and woke the next morning naked in his bed.
The judge concluded the victim was unconscious when Dadmand had sex with her during the night.
“It was impossible for the complainant to consent to sexual activity in those circumstances.”
The judge found the Crown had not proven that a later incident involving S.T. was a sexual assault. Pearlman also acquitted Dadmand of a sixth count of sexual assault.
A trial involving a seventh complainant is scheduled in November.
Dadmand is to be sentenced at an unspecified date.