Killer jailed for three more years
Man who murdered drug dealer also guilty of trying to help pimp bribe a witness
A man who was convicted of murdering a Vancouver drug dealer has been sentenced to three years in prison for helping a notorious pimp try to bribe a witness.
In February, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Gregory Bowden found Babak Najafi-Chaghabouri and his co-accused, Reza Moazami, guilty of attempted obstruction of justice.
At the time of the offence, from August to October 2012, the two men were cellmates at North Fraser Pre-Trial Centre.
Moazami, who was awaiting trial on charges he had run a child prostitution ring, persuaded Najafi-Chaghabouri to contact a friend outside prison to approach a Crown witness in his case who can only be identified by the initials S.W. because of a publication ban.
S.W. was told Moazami was prepared to pay a $5,000 bribe for her to approach his lawyer and recant her evidence against him.
Moazami, who was eventually convicted of human trafficking, sexual exploitation, sexual assault and living off the avails of prostitution, was ready to pay another $5,000 for her not to testify at trial and more money if other witnesses could be convinced not to testify.
Telephone calls the two men made from prison from a phone that had a notice warning users that conversations could be taped were intercepted by authorities.
The scheme fell apart when S.W. went to police and eventually testified at trial.
In August, Moazami was sentenced to three years in prison to be served consecutively to his 23-year jail term in the prostitution case.
Najafi-Chaghabouri was scheduled to be sentenced at the same time, but his sentencing was adjourned when he failed to make a video appearance from a Quebec prison where he was jailed.
At Najafi-Chaghabouri’s sentencing Friday, Justice Bowden said the aggravating factors included the length of time the two men tried to contact S.W. and the vulnerability of the victim.
“While there was no evidence of an overt threat of violence to S.W. if she were to testify, the prior relationship between her and Mr. Moazami involved violence against her.
“Based on her victim impact statement, it is clear that S.W. was afraid of what Mr. Moazami might do were she to testify.”
S.W. testified at Moazami’s trial that when she was 16 years old, he regularly abused her to intimidate her to work for him as a prostitute.
The abuse prompted her to try to commit suicide by jumping off an apartment balcony.
The judge said the nature of the offence of obstruction of justice or attempted obstruction of justice has been described by many judges as one that strikes at the heart of the justice system and calls for a sentence that would denounce and deter such crimes.
In December 2012, Najafi-Chaghabouri received the mandatory sentence of life in prison and no parole eligibility for 25 years for the February 2009 first-degree murder of drug dealer Ronak Wagad. Najafi-Chaghabouri used a hatchet to kill Wagad.
His three-year sentence for obstruction of justice will run concurrent to his life sentence.