A Vancouver immigration company owner has been convicted of sexual assaulting one Iranian immigrant and two counts of illegally employing foreign nationals.
However, Vancouver Provincial Court Judge Reginald Harris acquitted Alex Jones, also known as Abolfazi Jafari, Monday on two charges commonly called human trafficking.
Jones was also acquitted of sexually assaulting a second Iranian woman.
Harris said while Jones had taken some immigration courses, he was not a licensed immigration consultant. Rather, Harris said, Jones employed several such consultants.
Jones allegedly coerced two Iranian women to come to Vancouver. She and another woman were then allegedly sexually assaulted, concealed and illegally employed at an immigration services office. A publication ban covers their names.
Jones, was facing seven charges, including:
• allegedly sexually assaulting one woman in August 2019;
• allegedly sexually assaulting another woman in August and September 2019;
• allegedly organizing the coming to Canada of the first woman in August 2016 through fraud, deception or coercion contrary to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act;
• allegedly recruiting, transporting, transferring, receiving, holding, concealing or harbouring both women and controlling their movements for their exploitation between August 2019 and May 2020, and;
• allegedly inducing or abetting Alex Visa Immigration Services Inc. to employ both women in positions for which they were not authorized under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
All offences were alleged to have taken place in Vancouver.
Harris said both women had been in Iran when they were told of the services Jones offered. They initiated the process and organized their travel to Canada themselves.
That, Harris said, suggested there was no coercion.
Both women came on the understanding they would be going to school and could work part-time. They were issued visas to that effect.
But, in both cases, the schooling fell through and the pair was soon working for Jones.
They testified that the work hours were long, that workloads increased and that Jones was an unpleasant employer.
When their accommodations fell through, the women began living in an apartment that Jones paid the rent on. He also gave them money for food, Harris said.
In both cases, Jones invited the women back to his residence where both wound up in his bed.
One said she was clothed when she went to bed and awoke to find herself naked with Jones on top of her. Harris convicted Jones of sexual assault in that situation.
The second told a similar story but Harris said he had reasonable doubt as to Jones’ guilt there and, as such, found him not guilty of sexual assault.
When the women discovered both had been involved in a sexual incident with Jones, they decided to confront him on various issues.
They called police.
Harris said doing so meant they could expose themselves to the danger of being deported as they had been working contrary to their visa requirements.
Still, Harris said, Jones admitted he was guilty of employing the women and accordingly found him guilty.
The women had said they felt threatened by Jones, and that their safety and that of their relatives in Iran was at risk.
Again, however, Harris said he had reasonable doubt on those issues.
