Man who left gun in Richmond restaurant jailed

A man who was convicted of possessing a loaded gun in a Richmond restaurant has been sentenced to 30 months in jail.

In October, B.C. Supreme Court Justice George Macintosh found Sepehr Motevalli, 32, guilty of possessing the Ruger 9-mm handgun.

Motevalli had entered a Boston Pizza restaurant on Aug. 21, 2015, wearing a satchel containing the firearm and in the company of a woman and her mother, as well as some young children.

When the group finished their meal, Motevalli accidentally left the satchel containing the gun, which was loaded with 10 rounds of ammunition, on the arm of a chair where he had been sitting.

“The evidence is, at best, unclear as to what Mr. Motevalli was doing there with the loaded gun,” the judge said in a ruling posted on the court’s website Tuesday.

“The younger of the two women he was with was described in the evidence as the wife of a man the RCMP were investigating for possible money-laundering crimes.”

The trial featured identification evidence against the accused that included extensive surveillance obtained as part of the RCMP investigation into the suspected money launderer. The woman and her allegedly money-laundering husband are not identified in the sentencing ruling.

The judge noted that the accused did not testify at trial and did not discuss with a probation officer who was writing a pre-sentence report any of the circumstances surrounding the firearm.

“The defence invited me to conclude he was acting as a bodyguard on Aug. 21, 2015, although that was not established by any evidence beyond what is set out above.”

The pre-sentence report said Motevalli claimed the firearm was not his and that the situation “just fell into his lap” and he did not say who the gun belonged to or how it came into his possession.

In a prior court case, a Sepehr Motevalli testified at the trial of a man who was eventually convicted of firearms offences, but had the convictions overturned on appeal and a new trial ordered.

Described as a good friend of the appellant Chun Yu Billy Yuk, Motevalli testified that he was a gun enthusiast, had a firearms certificate and owned and fired guns.

Motevalli, who was born in Iran and came to Vancouver with his family in 1998, had no prior criminal record and had the support of his family.

In sentencing Motevalli, the judge said the case law for such firearms offences had a criminal range for sentencing and a regulatory range.

“Mr. Motevalli’s illegal possession on Aug. 21, 2015, clearly must be considered in the criminal context as distinct from the regulatory context.”