The case against a 48-year-old man charged in multiple alleged sexual assaults at his Burnaby skin care clinic will go straight to trial without being tested at a preliminary hearing.
Farshad Khojsteh-Kashani, the owner of FAB Skin Care at 5481 Kingsway, was first charged in March 2022 with two counts of sexual assault with a weapon.
The alleged weapon listed in the original charge document was “a probe,” and police said the alleged offences took place at Khojsteh-Kashani’s clinic during treatment.
Four more charges were added in July 2022, bringing the total to six alleged sexual assaults (the weapons element was dropped) involving six different victims between September 2018 and April 2021.
Khojsteh-Kashani elected to be tried by a B.C. Supreme Court judge and jury, a process that usually involves a preliminary hearing to test whether there is enough evidence to go to trial.
Last month, however, the Crown filed a direct indictment, meaning the case will go straight to trial.
The indictment, filed on June 9, also includes one additional sexual assault charge against another alleged victim.
Prosecutors can seek approval from the attorney general's office to go straight to trial with serious cases via a direct indictment under more than a dozen special circumstances, including cases where there would be a significant danger of psychological or physical harm to either victims or witnesses if they had to participate in multiple court proceedings.
The B.C. Prosecution Service would not comment on why the Crown decided to go straight to trial in Khojsteh-Kashani’s case.
“As these matters remain before the court the BCPS will have no further comment at this time,” media spokesperson Dan McLaughlin said in an emailed statement.
Khojsteh-Kashani, who is out on bail, has not yet entered a plea.
His next court date is scheduled for Sept. 11 for a pre-trial conference.
Trial dates have not yet been set, according to the Vancouver Supreme Court registry.
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