Indian student spared deportation after spying on undressing female housemates

A male Indian student on a study visa, suspended for poor grades, received a lenient sentence on voyeurism charges after admitting to secretly recording and spying on his female housemates.

A male Indian student on a study visa, suspended for poor grades, received a lenient sentence on voyeurism charges after admitting to secretly recording and spying on his female housemates in their shared basement bathroom.

An Ontario Court of Justice has found Aswin Sajeevan guilty of four counts of voyeurism over a six-month period and was given a lenient sentence so he would not face “immigration consequences,” as first reported by Chris Lambie in the National Post.

Justice Craig Brannagan imposed a five-and-a-half-month jail term on Sajeevan to avoid jeopardizing his immigration status, despite finding that his crimes warranted a sentence of six months to a year.

Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), any permanent resident or foreign national who has been sentenced to more than six months in jail is inadmissible on grounds of “serious criminality.”

The court also found that Sajeevan, in Canada on a study permit, was suspended from school due to a low GPA and has been working as a line cook.

Under the IRPA, international students must “remain enrolled” at a designated learning institution and make “reasonable progress” toward completing their program as part of the study permit agreement.

The Canada Border Services Agency and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada did not respondfor comment before the deadline when asked how someone suspended from school on a study permit could remain in the country.

Sajeevan was accused of peering through and recording video through a “peephole” while a woman was undressing in a Barrie, Ont., home he shared with 11 other people, including four women.

The peephole’s origin was unknown but led from a laundry room into a basement bathroom primarily used by the female residents.

Sajeevan, whose bedroom was next to the laundry room with a view into the bathroom, was caught crouched in the dark peering into the bathroom when one of the victims was using it. He said he was “looking for earbuds” but could not explain why he was doing so in the dark. He later admitted to the crime, even showing some of the recordings to his housemates.

All four women reported varying degrees of anxiety, fear of males, and second-guessing when using restrooms due to Sajeevan’s crimes. Several victims reported taking time off work due to their mental state and loss of trust.

One victim said the incident left her “living with intense fear” and feeling like she was “living in a nightmare” that “felt like hell.”

Brannagan said Sajeevan’s crimes significantly and enduringly impacted his victims, calling the offences “sinister” despite handing down a lenient sentence.

Brannagan noted in court findings that “collateral consequences” of sentencing must always be considered and proportional.

He ruled that the “collateral immigration consequences” would be disproportionate, despite the “grave” nature of Sajeevan’s crimes.

After his jail sentence, Sajeevan will have a restraining order against the victims, undergo counselling and be placed on probation for 18 months.

Several cases in recent months have seen judges across Canada give lenient sentences to migrants to avoid deportation.

In August, an Ontario Superior Court Justice gave a 53-year-old man a lighter sentence in a fraud case targeting new immigrants due to potential immigration consequences.

In July, an Ontario Crown prosecutor opted not to appeal a judge’s decision to grant a conditional discharge to an Indian man who attempted to “buy sex” from what he believed to be a 15-year-old girl, for the same reason.

Conservatives tabled a private member’s bill last month, which would prevent Canadian judges from granting lenient sentencing to non-citizens in a bid to help them not get deported.