A Perth dentist who drugged and raped several young women he met through dating apps over a one month period has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, with shocking CCTV exposing his crimes.
Farzam Mehrabi, 34, denied committing more than 20 offences against six women aged between 18 and 22 he met on dating apps in 2022, but was found guilty in the Perth District Court following a four-week trial.
Mehrabi’s offending included rape, indecent assault, strangulation, stupefying and supplying a prohibited drug.
He worked part time as a dentist and was studying to become a surgeon when the offences took place, the court was told.
Many of the incidents occurred at his parent’s home in Shelley, in Perth’s south, where Mehrabi lived at the time.
The court was told Mehrabi lied to the women about his age and his residence, telling his victims he was much younger than he was and that he lived with an older couple who were family friends.
“You plainly felt embarrassed about living with your parents at your age, though there was no need when there was an obvious explanation, because you were studying. But you consistently lied about that fact,” Judge Troy Sweeney said.
The court was told the offences took place after Mehrabi had broken up with his girlfriend and that he wanted to enjoy his single status by “deliberately seeking casual sexual encounters.”
He created dating profiles on Tinder and Bumble which showed he was 24 years old and six-foot tall rather than his actual age of 31 years and his lesser height.
He changed his age several times on the apps to attract younger women who were more likely interested in a casual hook-ups rather than older women who wanted a relationship, the court heard.
He used images on his profile where he appeared groomed, posed shirtless and drove a “sleek black” Jaguar car.
Judge Sweeney said everything about Mehrabi and the things he lied about sent a message that he was “successful, professional, well-heeled, polished and interesting”.
She told the court Mehrabi lied about his age to manipulate the women who responded to him on dating apps which was “manipulative, controlling and immoral”.
“It seems you got a better level of response once you lied about your age,” she said.
“That lie also meant you attracted interest from women who were younger, and in some ways naive and immature, even if they didn’t grasp that about themselves at the time, which is part of being a young adult.”
CCTV footage played in court captured Mehrabi inside a bar with one of the women he drugged without her knowledge. In the footage, when the woman goes to the bathroom he spikes her glass of water with MDMA and methamphetamine.
They left the venue together in Mehrabi’s car but when the woman started having a bad reaction to the drugs, she was scared and felt unsafe and jumped out of his vehicle near a train station to seek help from security guards.
It was her complaint to police and the media coverage that followed which led other women Mehrabi had drugged and assaulted to come forward, the court was told.
One woman woke up in Mehrabi’s bed with no recollection of the night before, she was covered in bruises, scratches, abrasions and had marks on her neck.
Other women reported drinking alcohol in Mehrabi’s back garden and when they felt nauseous he would offer them water.
Mehrabi sexually assaulted some of the women in his bedroom when they were too intoxicated or sick to willingly leave, the court was told.
Hair tests later confirmed some of the women had unknowingly consumed MDMA.
In handing down her sentence, Judge Sweeney told Mehrabi he had entirely lost his moral compass and found he engaged in behaviour that was controlling and deliberately manipulative.
She said he was so “self absorbed” and continued to offend despite two of his victims showing signs of distress.
“(That) didn’t temper your behaviour, because you were all about you and your needs,” she said.
“You did deceive the young women to whom you surreptitiously gave MDMA in a highly controlling move on your part and with no regard for them.”
The judge told Mehrabi he was attracted to younger women because he wanted to drink, take drugs and engage in risky behaviour that women his own age would be less impressed by.
“You wanted to date girls who were willing to get drunk and flirty and wild and take risks like using drugs with you. And if they weren’t up for that, then you’d given them MDMA without their knowledge,” she said.
“The last thing you actually wanted was to go out with a girl who was more mature than her years.”
She said giving drugs that stupefied a person without their knowledge or consent was abusive behaviour and an outrageous willingness to deprive a person of their free will.
“It shows a complete lack of respect and a complete willingness to manipulate and control another person,” she said.
“Each of the victims who ended up back at your house intoxicated and affected by drugs, whether consumed voluntarily or unknowingly, was thereby rendered vulnerable because they were at your home in a state in which their judgment and their physical independence was completely compromised, and that was deliberate on your part.”
Mehrabi was sentenced to 15 years in prison with a non parole period of 13 years.
https://thewest.com.au/news/perth-dentist-jailed-for-15-years-for-drugging-and-raping-women-he-met-on-dating-apps-c-17156780
