Afshin Maleki Ighani (RCMP photo)
The man guilty of assaulting two fellow inmates with a shiv, and assaulting a correctional officer while in custody at the South Okanagan Correctional Centre (OCC) is walking free after he was sentenced to time served.
Afshin Maleki Ighani, 48, was sentenced to 21 months of jail time in B.C. Supreme Court in Penticton on Jan. 28 in a joint submission set up between Ighani’s former lawyer and Crown counsel John Swanson — prior to Ighani firing his lawyer at the outset of the hearing.
Ighani pleaded guilty to two counts of assault with a weapon and one count of assaulting a peace officer.
The sentencing marks the end of a three year-long saga of court appearances, delays, dropped charges and fired lawyers after Ighani was acquitted on all charges related to an alleged 2017 armed kidnapping in the South Okanagan — which had one witness reportedly flee to the U.S. prior to testifying.
On Sept. 9, 2017 Ighani assaulted inmates David James McHale, a convicted child molester, and Peter Beckett, convicted of the first-degree murder of his wife, after entering the inmate recreational area at OCC and arguing with McHale prior to assaulting him. When Beckett attempted to intervene, he received multiple lacerations to his hand. McHale also suffered lacerations from the shiv Ighani used.
“The weapon seized from Mr. Ighani appears to be a flat, metal, blade-like object,” said Justice Elizabeth McDonald, recounting the circumstances of the offences while handing down the sentence.
On March 14, 2018 Ighani was being escorted back to his cell by a corrections officer and while the officer was closing the cell door, Ighani rushed out of his cell and assaulted her.
The corrections officer “tried unsuccessfully to reach her pepper spray and Mr. Ighani grabbed her by the throat and there was a scuffle,” McDonald said, before other corrections officers assisted and escorted Ighani back to his cell. The corrections officer suffered from severe bruising.
“The impact of Mr. Ighani’s offences, assaulting individuals with a weapon and assaulting a peace officer have caused serious harm to the victims, and to the community,” McDonald said.
Ighani has been in custody since April 2017 and has served his sentence with pre-trial custody credit.
“Assuming there are no other holds on him, he should be released forthwith,” Swanson said.
Ighani was also prohibited from possessing weapons.
Ighani, an Iranian national, was twice ordered deported from Canada according to the Penticton Herald, but the deportations were stayed due to Ighani facing the death penalty in Iran.
