A Burnaby spa employee who provided purported vaginal-tightening treatments has been found guilty on all seven charges of sexual assault by a B.C. Supreme Court jury.
Farshad Khojsteh Kashani was first charged in 2022 after two clients of Fab Skin Care complained to police of being sexually assaulted during treatments. After police said there might be more victims, five more women came forward.
All seven complainants testified during the trial. Three of the women had a Groupon — from the online marketplace that offers deals and discounts — for the procedure. The other four had been to the clinic for different esthetic procedures previously.
Crown prosecutors said Khojsteh Kashani sexually assaulted each of the seven complainants during the procedure, meaning he touched them sexually, arguing that the women were vulnerable due to the nature of the procedure and because they saw Khojsteh Kashani as a trained medical professional.
Khojsteh Kashani’s defence argued that the complainants’ version of events was “illogical” and that he wouldn’t have risked sexually assaulting the women because it would imperil his career, marriage and efforts to move to Canada.
A biography on Fab Skin Care’s deactivated website said Khojsteh Kashani worked as a general practitioner in Iran for more than five years, performing “various types of cosmetic and aesthetic treatments.”
The court heard that Khojsteh Kashani went to medical school in Iran for seven years. He immigrated under the skilled workers program in 2011 and started working at the spa in 2017 to make ends meet while he tried to get his Iranian medical degree recognized in Canada.
Khojsteh Kashani has never been registered as a physician in the province, according to the College of B.C. Physicians and Surgeons.
When charges were first announced in 2022, Fraser Health issued a public alert urging anyone who had received high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) vaginal tightening treatments from Fab Skin Care to get immediately tested for sexually transmitted infections.
“…this business was not providing these services through a registered health professional and was not using appropriate infection control measures while providing these services,” the alert read.
Khojsteh Kashani’s bail has been revoked, and a bail hearing is scheduled for Friday in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver. A sentencing hearing date has not been set.
