A man convicted of sexually assaulting a university student and threatening to distribute intimate videos of her to family members in Iran has avoided serving any jail time despite the Ontario Court of Appeal ruling his original sentence was far too lenient.

In a unanimous decision, Ontario Court of Appeal Justices Gary T. Trotter, Jonathan Dawe and D.A. Wilson ruled that the 20-month conditional sentence imposed on Yasser Ghoreishi in 2024 for sexual assault and assault was "demonstrably unfit." Justice Wilson wrote the court's reasons.

The appeal court concluded that a three-year penitentiary sentence was the appropriate punishment for the offences.

However, the judges declined to send Ghoreishi to prison because he had already completed his conditional sentence, which allowed him to serve his punishment in the community under strict conditions.

According to the court, Ghoreishi sexually assaulted a university student whom he had mentored and later threatened to send sexually explicit videos of her to members of her family in Iran. The Crown appealed the original sentence, arguing it failed to properly reflect the seriousness of the offences and the need for denunciation and deterrence.

The Court of Appeal agreed, finding that a community-based sentence was not appropriate for crimes of this nature. The judges substituted a three-year custodial sentence but stayed its execution, noting that Ghoreishi had already completed the conditional sentence imposed by the trial court and that returning him to custody at this stage was not warranted.

The original sentence had been imposed by Ontario Superior Court Justice Rita-Jean Maxwell.

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