Reza Moazami liked to keep under the radar, and for very good reason, if the allegations against him are true. Heâ??s accused of running a ring of 11 teenaged prostitutes in the Vancouver area, the youngest of whom was 14. Some of the girls called him Sammy, apparently his favourite pseudonym. One of the girls had another name for him: Boss man.
He was a controlling, menacing figure, the girl testified Wednesday and Thursday in B.C. Supreme Court, where Mr. Moazami is being tried on 36 prostitution-related charges. They include human trafficking, sexual assault, touching a young person for a sexual purpose, and compelling and using threats to live on the avails. The offences allegedly took place from 2009 to 2011.
The girl testified that she was 15 and out of school when she met the accused in 2011. Like the complainant who appeared in court earlier this week, she described a childhood marred by turbulence and drug use; estranged parents and running with the wrong crowd.
Another young female prostitute introduced them, court heard. He led her to an upscale apartment in Richmond, a Vancouver suburb, where she lived and â??workedâ? for the next month, the girl testified. According to the Crown, Mr. Moazami had rented at least 10 â??high-endâ? apartments in the Vancouver area for the purpose of prostitution. He installed the complainants inside the apartments and arranged for johns to drop by.
Mr. Moazami, now 29, would also bring around to various apartments a long-haired Chihuahua named Gucci. The dog was meant for the girlsâ?? enjoyment, and as a manipulative device, according to witness testimonies. When the girls didnâ??t fall into line, he would hit the dog, step on its neck, threaten to kill it, court has heard.
Itâ??s been alleged that he supplied complainants with GHB, also known as the â??date rape drug.â? They used it recreationally. It made them feel loose, as if they had consumed alcohol. Perhaps it dulled the pain.
The second complainant serviced an average of 10 or 11 men every day for the month she worked for Mr. Moazami, she testified. She described her daily routine: awake by about 10 in the morning, breakfast in the apartment, then out for some shopping, or a visit to the tanning salon. â??Sammy said I was too white,â? the girl recalled in court.
[IMG]http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2013/09/vancouver-court.jpg?w=620&h=465[/IMG] THE CANADIAN PRESS/Felicity DonCrown lawyer Damienne Darby address the court while the accused, 29-year-old Reza Moazami, writes in the prisoner's box in this court drawing on Sept. 25. A glamorous lifestyle of drugs and booze, the chance to live in downtown Vancouver and the companionship of a pet dog were all promises used by a Vancouver man to lure 11 teenagers into prostitution, a B.C. Supreme Court trial heard.
She would return to the apartment by late afternoon. When most girls her age were getting home from school, she was usually meeting her first customer of the day. The client would be shown inside, money taken from him and stored in a box inside a refrigerator freezer, where the GHB was also stored, court heard. He would be directed to the shower, and â??weâ??d meet in the bedroom,â? the girl testified. â??Weâ??d do our business and heâ??d leave.â? The next customer would arrive. Then another, and so on. The girl said her workday would finish at approximately three or five the following morning.
Mr. Moazami assaulted her, she claimed. On one occasion, she testified, he sodomized her and then told her to go take a shower and â??get ready for the next client.â? The alleged rape occurred about a week before she and another girl were dispatched to Calgary to work the Stampede, court heard.
[INDENT]I punched him in the face
[/INDENT]They had just arrived in Calgary and were relaxing in their hotel room when Mr. Moazami turned up, angry that they werenâ??t hard at work, the girl told the court. He assaulted her again, this time kicking her hard in the right thigh, she alleged.
She retaliated. â??I punched him in the face,â? the girl recalled. She and her friend bolted from the hotel and ran across the street; eventually, the girl got on a Greyhound bus bound for another city, where her mother lived.
Sammy wasnâ??t happy, she testified. He burned some of the belongings sheâ??d left behind, she recalled, and he sent her a photo as proof of the deed. Later, he pleaded with her to return to him, court heard. She wasnâ??t having it. â??I donâ??t want to come back, fâ?? off,â? she wrote to him, ending one text message exchange.
Like other complainants, the 15-year-old managed to break free. But Mr. Moazami is alleged to have procured many other girls, some of them even younger. The trial continues.
[URL]http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/10/03/alleged-pimp-forced-15-year-old-to-have-sex-with-10-men-a-day-in-high-end-vancouver-apartment-court-hears/[/URL]
