Elevator sexual assault case ends with jail time for Iranian native

Farhood Azarsina will have some time on his hands to think about how his sexual assault on a woman in an elevator at Memorial University affected the victim, and was outright wrong.

Azarsina, a 25-year-old Iranian native, will spend 18 days in prison for hugging a woman he had never met and kissing her on the top of her breast while the two were on an elevator in MUN's University Centre Sept. 27, 2007.

Provincial court judge David Orr sentenced Azarsina to two months in prison but, as is customary in the court system, gave him credit of three weeks for time he had spent in custody after being arrested and waiting for bail conditions to be met.

When handing down sentence today, Orr said, "(Azarsina) failed to appreciate the full seriousness of the offence. He failed to understand the full effect on the victim, except at a superficial level."

Azarsina was also placed on probation for one year with conditions that include to have no contact with the victim, provide a DNA sample to police, and keep the peace and be of good behaviour.

Orr also said Memorial University will have to take whatever steps it feels necessary in the matter. Azarsina is a PhD student in engineering at MUN and has been banned from the campus since the incident.

Azarsina pleaded guilty to the sexual assault and, during the sentencing hearing last week, said he acted on impulse and didn't realize the seriousness of the offence until after he was arrested.

In reading her victim impact statement during the hearing, the victim described how the incident had negatively impacted her life.

"It wasn't supposed to be a day I should remember. Instead, it was a day I'll never forget," the 20-year-old said, noting it had turned her into a fearful person who is unable to sleep and doesn't feel safe anymore.