A Burnaby spa operator convicted of sexually assaulting seven women while providing “vaginal tightening” treatments should not spend any additional time behind bars, his lawyer has argued.
A jury convicted Farshad Khojsteh-Kashani of seven counts of sexual assault in April, and he has been in custody since.
At trial, jurors heard that many of the victims had come to him seeking other treatments when he introduced them to the invasive vaginal procedure, which is performed with an 18-centimetre wand.
The trial heard that Khojsteh-Kashani had rubbed victims’ clitorises and penetrated them with his fingers. The court heard he asked one victim if using the wand had “turned her on” and asked another if she wanted him to “finish her off.”
On Thursday, defence lawyer Joel Whysall argued his client should be sentenced to a conditional sentence, to be served in the community, of two-years less a day followed by three years of probation.
Sentencing hearing for Burnaby spa owner’s sexual assault trial
Whysall argued that Khojsteh-Kashani has no criminal record, is not a significant risk to reoffend, and has “already forfeited so much” in terms of his career and business.
“This conviction, that’s it. It’s all in the garbage and will never come back,” he told the court, adding Khojsteh-Kashani has already been subject to public shaming and media attention.
Get daily National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
The 52-year-old, who described himself on his website as “Dr. Farshad,” is not licenced doctor in Canada, however was trained as one in Iran the court heard.
On Thursday, Khojsteh-Kashani addressed the court through an interpreter, saying that before “this happened to him” he had a 19-year career, including as a GP, where he saw approximately 100,000 clients, about three-quarters of them women, and that “you cannot find even one complaint.”
Whysall told the court Khojsteh-Kashani’s offending was “situational,” and limited to the use of the wand during the tightening procedures. He said Khojsteh-Kashani had obtained the device and thought he could handle using it, but could not.
“He took leave of his senses due to the temptation … he gave in to his lust and temptation and he lost his mind,” he argued.
“We’re not dealing with someone who’s touched a child, he’s not a pedophile.”
On Wednesday, the court heard victim impact statements from the women Khojsteh-Kashani assaulted, who described the lasting emotional damage of the incidents.
“I trusted Farshad…but instead he betrayed my trust in the worst, violating way possible … He hurt me physically and psychologically,” one woman told the court
“I will never forget how vulnerable and violated I felt that day,” another said through tears. “Just driving past the location in Burnaby sends chills through my spine.”
Whysall argued the only aggravating factor in the case was the trust the women had placed in Khojsteh-Kashani, though he acknowledged he denied the offences and that he did not plead guilty, which could have been a mitigating factor.
The Crown is seeking a sentence of 12 years and three months in prison and a lifetime entry on the sex offender registry.
Khojsteh-Kashani has been in jail since April 2, when a B.C. Supreme Court jury found him guilty of seven sexual assaults at Fab Skin Care over two and a half years starting in 2019.
Justice Lisa Warren has reserved her decision until at least mid-September.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
