The B.C. Court of Appeal has granted interim release to a medical aesthetics spa owner convicted of seven counts of sexual assault, pending the hearing of his appeal.

Justice Susan Griffin heard the bail application from the convicted man requesting that he be released under 24-hour house arrest with electronic monitoring. In

her Nov. 28 decision

, she noted that Farshad Khojsteh Kashani complied with bail conditions prior to trial, as well as the Crown’s agreement that he does not pose a current safety risk to the public. Further, she was satisfied he would not flee, despite ties to Iran.

Kashani, 51, was born in Iran. He studied medicine in Iran and worked as a general practitioner there for about four years, according to the court decision. Then, around age 37, in 2011, he came to Canada with his wife and became a Canadian citizen in 2017.

He failed to meet the English language proficiency required to practice medicine in B.C., and instead trained in aesthetics procedures and opened a medical aesthetics spa, which he operated between 2017 and 2022.

However, in May 2019, one of his clients reported to the police that he had sexually assaulted her during a procedure. Two years later, another client made a similar report. Following a news release issued by the police and subsequent media coverage, five other complainants came forward with similar allegations. Kashani was subsequently charged with seven counts of sexual assault.

In April 2025, he was found guilty of all seven counts of sexual assault and

sentenced to 11 years

imprisonment.

“The offences were highly invasive,” wrote Justice Griffin in her decision. “In some cases, the offences involved: vaginal penetration using a medical instrument, which the appellant thrusted aggressively to varying degrees; digital penetration; touching of the vulva and/or clitoral area; and the infliction of physical pain.”

Further she wrote: “There were hallmarks of planning, as four of the complainants went to the clinic initially for other treatments and the appellant encouraged them towards this procedure.”

It should be noted that a publication ban has been imposed by the court restricting the publication of any evidence that would identify a complainant or witness.

Justice Griffin noted that the sentencing judge said Kashani had no prior criminal record, had generally led a productive life, and was at a low risk of reoffending. “However, given the gravity of the offences, the sentencing judge found that the objectives of denunciation and deterrence were paramount and necessitated a substantial penitentiary term.”

Turning to the bail application, Griffin focused on submissions from Kashani and his wife that “they are both prepared to surrender all passports, Canadian and Iranian, and expired passports. The appellant’s wife says that while one can apply online for an Iranian passport, an original birth certificate is necessary to complete the process. The appellant is also willing to surrender his birth certificate.”

Kashani also proposed bail terms aimed at mitigating concern that he might flee, including 24‑hour house arrest and submission to electronic monitoring. As further reassurance, Justice Griffin noted that Kashani’s wife submitted that she is willing to act as surety, provide a cash deposit of $150,000, and also provide the security of their condominium residence located in Coquitlam.

“Weighing all of this, I am satisfied that the risk of the appellant fleeing the jurisdiction can be mitigated by the additional measures proposed by the appellant. I am satisfied that he has established that he will surrender himself (for the appeal hearing) … I am not persuaded that detention is in the public interest.”

Finally, she ordered Kashani to surrender himself in mid-April or on the date when the appeal is finally set down to be heard.

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A Jewish couple in their 60s tried to stop one of the alleged Bondi Beach attackers by grabbing his gun, dramatic dashcam footage shows.

Boris Gurman, 69, and his wife Sofia, 61, Bondi residents, were set to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary in January, but on Sunday they were killed after they tried to stop one of the suspected gunmen, reports the

New York Times.

The Gurmans were on a road near Bondi Beach, when one of the suspects emerged from a car that had an Islamic State flag over the windshield, according to

The Sydney Morning Herald

and

News.com.au

. It was parked near a footbridge leading to the beach.

The couple confronted the suspect.

The video shows Boris wrestling with one of the gunmen and taking the weapon from him, before the two men fell onto a nearby road, reports the

BBC

. He then got up and hit the attacker with the gun. However, the attacker is then thought to have used another gun to kill Boris and Sofia.

The unidentified woman who provided the dashcam footage told

Reuters

that Boris Gurman “did not run away. Instead, he charged straight toward the danger, using all his strength trying to wrestle away the gun and fighting to the death.”

According to a fundraising page set up on

GoFundMe

for their son, Alex Gurman, almost $185,000 Australian dollars, or approximately C$170,000, had been raised as of midday Tuesday.

The Gurmans were the first two people killed in Sunday’s attack. At least 15 people have been confirmed dead from the mass shooting that unfolded during an event to mark the first day of Hanukkah.

Boris was a retired mechanic. Sofia worked at Australia Post. Both were loved by the community, reports the BBC.

Police have described the attack as a terrorist incident targeting the Jewish community. Many children and families from the Jewish community had gathered at Bondi Beach for

Chanukah by the Sea

, an event marking the first day of Hanukkah.

The other victims killed include a 10-year-old girl, a British-born rabbi, a retired police officer, and a Holocaust survivor, with ages ranging from 10 to 87. There are 22 other people in hospital, nine in critical condition.

On Monday, another bystander, Syrian-born Australian shopkeeper, Ahmed al Ahmed, was also hailed as a hero after he wrestled away a gun from one of the attackers. He was shot in the arm several times and is in hospital undergoing surgery to remove the bullets.

• ‘We were like sitting ducks’: How the Bondi Beach massacre unfolded
• What to know in the aftermath of Australia’s Bondi Beach shooting

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The massacre unfolded over roughly nine or 10 minutes.

It began as the sun was setting over a grassy park at the northern end of Australia’s iconic Bondi Beach, where hundreds had come together Sunday evening for the annual Chanukah by the Sea to mark the start of Hanukkah, the eight-day Festival of Lights. Families with children, young couples and elderly grandparents from Sydney’s Jewish community, all gathered for what was meant to be a night of peace and celebration.

The park has picnic shelters and a playground. There was a petting zoo for kids, face painting and a rock-climbing wall. It was warm, 29 C. As children petted rabbits and ate fried donuts, “music competed with the sound of crashing waves” from the Tasman Sea, the Associated Press reported.

At about 6:30 p.m., two men climbed out of a silver Hyundai Elantra hatchback near the footbridge leading over a car park to Archer Park, that grassy knoll. The two men, Australian residents identified as Sajid Akram, 50, and his 24-year-old son, Naveed Akram, had reportedly rented an Airbnb in a suburb in New South Wales, about a 20 km drive from Bondi Beach.

They told their family they’d gone fishing, Agence France Press reported.

Carrying three long arm rifles, the two men — the son dressed in black, the father in white pants and a long-sleeved black shirt — walked to the concrete footbridge overlooking the Jewish celebrations. Its chest-high walls sheltered the shooters from the east and west, AFR reported.

One rifle was set on the ground before the shooters aimed their guns and began firing at around 6:47 p.m. into the crowd from a distance of some 50 metres, the Guardian reported.

Amid the shattering of gunfire, panic took hold, the

New York Times reported

. One mother grabbed her 17-month-old and dove under a barbecue, pulling buckets of drinks on top of them. She prayed: “Please don’t let us die,” she

told the Associated Press

. “Please just keep my son safe.” A man a few centimetres away was suddenly hit by a bullet in the chest. “I’m dying,” he told the terrified young mother. “I can’t breathe.” As she tried to comfort him, her 65-year-old mother pressed cardboard against the man’s bleeding wound, AP reported.

He didn’t survive.

Other parents threw themselves over their children like human shields. Amid the pop-pop of gunfire, people began running for their lives. Some, fully dressed, ran into the sea while others scrambled to get out of the water. People fled the carnage, in every direction. “It just didn’t stop,” one woman told the Times. “We were so targeted in that little space. We were like sitting ducks.” The gunmen just kept reloading and firing, again and again, another survivor said. “They had a ridiculous amount of ammunition and multiple guns.”

Police arrived within minutes but witnesses said their handguns “seemed outmatched by the firearms carried out by the shooters,” the Times reported.

“Everybody as a whole was just kind of in a freakout. It didn’t feel real at the moment,” 18-year-old Finn Foster, of Brantford, Ont., told the Canadian Press. Foster and his girlfriend, who are backpacking in Australia, were heading to Bondi Beach when the heard gunfire. “Cars were pulling over,” he told CP. “(People) were hopping out and grabbing their kids.”

Sometime after 6:47 p.m., the older shooter — allegedly Sajid — moved off the footbridge to the grass, to get closer to the celebrations and to his targets. He began firing at point-blank range into the crowds, the BBC reported.

Then, in an extraordinary and dramatic moment captured by video and spread on social media, the shooter was tackled from behind by Ahmed al Ahmed, a 43-year-old father of two girls who risked his life by pouncing on the shooter from behind parked cars, grabbing him around the neck and single-handedly wrestling the gun from his hands and briefly turning the weapon on him without firing. As the shooter stumbled backwards, al-Ahmed placed the gun against a tree, then held his arm up, motioning for help.

However, about a minute after he was disarmed, the shooter walked back to the footbridge and began firing again with the third weapon before he was shot and killed.

The other shooter — believed to be Naveed — continued firing for another 90 seconds before he, too, was shot, the BBC reported.

Police and witnesses ran onto the footbridge. Video shows one man kicking one of the alleged shooters.

The 24-year-old was in hospital Monday, reportedly in a coma. He is expected to face criminal charges, police said.

After the shootings, “rescuers frantically pumped the chest of unmoving bodies on the grass, near a picnic table, an abandoned stroller and the petting zoo,” AP reported.

At least 103 shots were fired, about 80 from the two attackers, according to an analysis by the Financial Review.

Australia’s worst mass killing in nearly three decades and the worst antisemitic attack in its history has left at least 15 people dead, including

10-year-old Matilda,

a sweet happy child “who never stopped smiling,” a Holocaust survivor, and 41-year-old Rabbi Eli Schlanger, a key organizer of Sunday’s gathering who had not a bad bone in his body and whose mission in life was “to bring the light of Judaism into the world,” extended family members in Toronto 

told CTV.

At least 42 people have been hospitalized.

Al-Ahmed, the hero who tackled one of the shooters, took two bullets, one each in the arm and hand. He remained in hospital Monday.

Australia has some of the strictest gun control measures in the world, enacting prohibitions against semi-automatic firearms and pump-action shotguns following a mass shooting in Tasmania in 1996.

The video of the massacre is blurry. However, from the size and shape of the guns the alleged terrorists fired, the weapons appear to be “the kinds of things people can buy legally in Australia,” said Canadian firearms writer Andrew Somerset.

They were fairly long and full-size, like a hunting rifle or shotgun, not compact and short, Somerset said. “My first impression is, you’re looking at an over/under shotgun, which is a double barrel shotgun, with the barrels configured vertically instead of horizontally.”

“If that is correct, a double barrel shotgun holds two rounds, and you have to reload it every time you fire two rounds,” said Somerset, author of Arms: The Culture and Credo of the Gun.

“As far as them being able to get off as many shots as they did, even if you’re using a bolt-action rifle or a break-action shotgun, you would still be able to get off a lot of shots.

“Because there is nobody shooting back at you.”

Authorities said there was no evidence the two gunmen were acting as part of a wider terror group. “There’s no evidence of collusion, no evidence that these people are part of a cell,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in an interview with the Australian broadcaster, ABC.

Albanese also said his government will look at further strengthening gun control.

The shooters may have spent time at a shooting range, Somerset said. However, they weren’t moving tactically. “Nothing in the video suggests to me these people had any kind of para-military training,” he said.

“There is more than one path to prevent these incidents and simply saying ‘we’re not going to let people have guns’ is not going to solve the problem.

“You have to try to control these things by saying people can’t be antisemitic. You can start to go after the networks of people who publicly express support for groups like Hamas.”

National Post

• Hero ‘riddled with bullets’ after stopping Bondi Beach terrorist says he’d ‘do it again’
• They died because they were Jewish: the victims of Bondi Beach

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HALIFAX  — A Nova Scotia woman serving a life sentence for strangling her own daughter to death has been granted six months of day parole.

Penny Patricia Boudreau murdered her 12-year-old daughter Karissa on Jan. 27, 2008, later claiming it was to save her relationship with her boyfriend. The following year, Boudreau pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. A judge sentenced her to life in prison with no chance of parole for 20 years.

“The board believes that you are on a journey of observable and measurable positive personal changes which have evolved over time,” said the decision granting Boudreau day parole, which was released Monday.

“It is of the opinion of the board that you have gained insight (into) why you committed the crime as well as its consequences on the victim’s family and the community. While there continues to be challenges with anxiety, you have shown that you are willing to challenge yourself and you have gained confidence while facing these challenges. Your high assessed levels of accountability and motivation show that you are ready to continue to put in the work necessary to continue your progress. The board believes that you are realistic in accepting that this will continue to be a slow and gradual process.”

Boudreau, now in her early 50s, has completed numerous escorted temporary absences from prison since they were first approved in 2018.

She has “made the necessary progress and (has) acquired greater insight so as to benefit from a longer absence in the community, which made this a desirable step in the evolution of your case,” said the decision granting her day parole.

During her escorted absences from prison, Boudreau has “interacted with members of the public through a church and visited the home of a close personal support,” said the decision. “There were no security concerns.”

The body of Karissa Boudreau, 12, was found in the snow along a riverbank in Bridgewater, N.S., about two weeks after she was last seen in her mother’s car Jan. 27, 2008. Penny Boudreau went on television to make a tearful plea for her return.

“You strangled her and disposed of her body in the snow, as you hoped it would not be discovered for a while. You then reported the victim missing to the police,” said the decision.

A psychological risk assessment for Boudreau completed in October 2024 indicates her “overall risk within the community on (unescorted temporary absences) and/or day parole was noted as generally low, while (her) global risk for future recidivism, whether violent or general, was estimated in the very low range,” said the parole decision.

The decision doesn’t indicate where Boudreau is serving her sentence.

The parole board acknowledged “significant community concerns regarding (Boudreau’s) reintegration under conditional release.”

The board fielded an emailed “threat to (Boudreau’s) personal safety” in January 2025, said the decision. “The threat was investigated by police; however, they were unable to confirm the identity of the person responsible.”

The Correctional Service of Canada notes Boudreau has “exhibited deficits in being able to solve interpersonal problems and (has) demonstrated poor decision-making in the past. It is also noted that (she has) previously struggled with feelings of insecurity, fear of abandonment, poor self-esteem and feelings of inadequacy.”

Killing Karissa “demonstrated an anti-social response to these negative feelings,” said the decision. “The board considers your lack of self-control when you committed the crime as aggravating to your risk to reoffend.”

Boudreau’s “emotions management” and her “relationships with others will need to be scrutinized and monitored,” said the decision, dated Dec. 4. “This is necessary to ensure that you have not fallen back to harmful thinking patterns that are similar to when you committed the crime.”

The board had previously granted Boudreau a 60-day unescorted absence at a halfway house from September to November.

“You were described as respectful, with a positive but realistic outlook. You participated in both individual and group program interventions, including courses on self-esteem and healthy relationships. You participated in a cooking program and other activities organized by peer supports. You were accompanied by staff most of the time for the first 30 days, after which you were permitted to go on short walks around the neighbourhood by yourself, which you said was very beneficial.”

Boudreau also met biweekly with a psychologist, who the board says is “supportive of day parole.”

During that recent leave, Boudreau “encountered anxiety issues around some of the challenges of communal living, namely a lack of hygiene and safe food handling by others, as (she is) used to budgeting and cooking for” herself, said her decision.

“However, after talking it through, you were able to adapt to your environment in a healthy way.”

Boudreau will return to the same halfway house, which is farther from Bridgewater and where she had connected with a religious organization. Local police didn’t object, the board said.

“You intend to continue your education through online webinars to update yourself with the latest information on nutrition,” said the decision.

“You intend to attend spiritual activities, and you have connected with local spiritual leaders which shows that you have begun to create a positive community support system.”

Boudreau must “immediately report all sexual and non-sexual relationships and friendships with males and any changes to the status of the relationships” to her parole officer, said the decision.

“This includes disclosing whether those (partners) have parental responsibilities for children under the age of 16 years.”

Boudreau won’t have leave privileges during her six months of day parole, said the parole board. “You must first demonstrate your ability to handle the challenges of day parole while your emotional regulation is closely monitored by (halfway house) staff. In addition, you must continue to strengthen and maintain a positive support network within the community.”

Boudreau must avoid contacting family while on day parole. “The victims deserve to live in peace without having any contact from you,” said the decision. “Any contact would force them to relive the events that forever changed their lives.”

• N.S. mother who strangled daughter could soon apply for unescorted prison leave
• N.S. mother who strangled daughter to death and dumped body gets 60-day unescorted leave

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OTTAWA — Elections Canada says it will make a series of changes to how it handles special ballots in the coming months after a series of high-profile issues with mail-in votes during the last federal election.
 

In an internal review of its rules for special (or mail-in) ballots tabled Monday, Elections Canada said it would be implementing 13 recommendations over three phases from fall 2025 to fall 2026.
 

“Given the current minority government context and the uncertain timing of the next general election… this will ensure readiness for a potential snap general election before the end of 2026,” reads the report.
 

The changes are largely linked to both problems that emerged with mail-in ballots during last spring’s election, as well as the increasing popularity of such ballots over the last decade.

They include better monitoring of mail-in votes sent to electors, streamlining the counting and reporting process for national and international special ballots and automating the printing of return labels sent to voters.
 

In the weeks following last spring’s election, special ballots were linked to notable issues in two ridings on opposite sides of the country.
 

“It is critical to assess and address issues that emerged in special ballots given the increased use by Canadians,” Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault told reporters during a briefing in September.
 

“We saw things that we hadn’t seen before, errors that we haven’t seen before with special ballots,” he added.
 

The first issue in Terrebonne, a riding on the south shore of Montreal which the Liberals won from the Bloc Québécois by a single vote.
 

But within days of the vote, one Bloc voter said her mail-in ballot had been sent back to her because Elections Canada made a mistake on
the address on the return envelope
. Ultimately, the agency said it sent out roughly 100 special ballots in Terrebonne with a mistake in the return address.
 

Then in May, Elections Canada announced that a box of 822 special ballots was found, uncounted, at the office of a returning officer in the B.C. riding of Coquitlam–Port Coquitlam.
 

In a statement, the agency said the box was left behind due to “human error” and “a failure to comply with the written procedures.” It said the box should have been returned to the agency’s headquarters by April 28.
 

The ballots came from voters in 74 ridings across the country. Elections Canada said at the time that the mistake did not ultimately affect the vote in any of those ridings.
 

But the issue raised questions about how an entire box of special ballots could be mistakenly left behind and how the agency tracks mail-in votes.
 

In Monday’s review, Elections Canada commits to improving monitoring of special ballots in all electoral divisions by the end of the fall.
The report does not further explain how the issues arose.

The agency says it will implement new data comparison processes that will allow it to faster detect ballots that have been returned but not yet counted on polling night. It also promised to adjust its label-making process to “reduce the risk of human error”.
 

By the fall of next year, Elections Canada promises to fully automate printing of return address labels as well as the monitoring systems overseeing return rates of special ballots.
 

That will “reduce the likelihood of special ballots being late or not returned to headquarters by automatically flagging potential issues” and “detect potential mail stream issues more proactively,” reads the report.
 

National Post

cnardi@postmedia.com

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Ahmed al Ahmed, the man being hailed as a hero around the world for disarming one of the gunmen during Australia’s Bondi Beach terrorist attack Sunday, said he doesn’t regret putting his own life at risk to save others and would “do it again.”

The 44-year-old Syrian-born Sydney shop vendor and father of two young girls is recovering in hospital after being “riddled with bullets” during his courageous act, but remains in “good spirits,” according to people close to him quoted by various media outlets.

In a widely-circulated video, Ahmed is seen crouching behind a parked car as one of the gunmen fires into a crowd of innocent people gathered for a Hanukkah beach party.

He quickly charges the shooter from behind and wrestles what appears to be a shotgun away from him. As the man falls to the ground and struggles to his feet before retreating away, Ahmed lays the rifle against a tree, raises his right arm in the air and tries to seek cover.

In the extended video, the shooter is seen briefly seeking cover behind a light pole before moving to a nearby pedway where the other shooter is firing from a rifle.

The hero who disarmed the shooter at Bondi Beach, Australia, is a 43-year-old Muslim man named Ahmed al Ahmed.

His courage and quick action saved countless lives today. ✊ pic.twitter.com/amZvt9u4RN

— 𝓙𝓲𝓶𝓶𝔂 𝓙 (@JimmyJ4thewin) December 14, 2025

The camera briefly pans back to where Ahmed is huddled, showing another man doing something to the rifle before appearing to be shot. He appears to be shot again as he flees from the gunfire.

The shooters were later identified by Australian media as

50-year-old Sajid Akram and his 24-year-old son Naveed Akram

. The father reportedly died at the scene while his son was wounded and is expected to survive his injuries.

Ahmed’s immigration lawyer, Sam Issa, told the

Sydney Morning Herald

on Monday that his client is in a lot of pain after being shot five times in the left arm while acting selflessly to stop the older of the two from taking more lives.

“He’s not well at all. He’s riddled with bullets,” Issa said. “Our hero is struggling at the moment.”

His father, Mohamed Fateh al Ahmed, told the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)

that Ahmed was shot by Naveed during the tussle for the gun with his father. He said some of the bullets are still lodged in Ahmed and will require more surgeries to remove.

He expressed immense pride in his son’s valiant actions, which he told the

BBC

were “driven by his sentiment, conscience and humanity.”

“When he did what he did, he wasn’t thinking about the background of the people he’s saving, the people dying in the street,” the elder Ahmed said, as reported by ABC. “He doesn’t discriminate between one nationality and another.”

Chris Minns, the Premier of New South Wales, where Sydney is located, visited with Ahmed at St. George Hospital Monday, sharing

a photo on X

showing the “real-life hero” lying in bed with bandages on his left hand and arm.

“It was an honour to spend time with him just now and to pass on the thanks of people across NSW,” Minns wrote.

“There is no doubt that more lives would have been lost if not for Ahmed’s selfless courage.”

Ahmed is a real-life hero. Last night, his incredible bravery no doubt saved countless lives when he disarmed a terrorist at enormous personal risk.

It was an honour to spend time with him just now and to pass on the thanks of people across NSW. pic.twitter.com/3xNBW8vxvZ

— Chris Minns (@ChrisMinnsMP) December 15, 2025

Ahmed was at Bondi Sunday evening to have coffee with his cousin, Jozay Alkanj, who told the Herald they were offered food as they passed the Hanukkah event shortly before the shooting occurred. As shots rang out around them as they hid behind cars, he said Ahmed jumped into action.

“He said, ‘I’m going to die — please see my family (and tell them) that I went down to save people’s lives’,” Alkanj said.

His mother, Malakeh Hasan al Ahmed, speaking to ABC, said they were now praying “that God saves him.”

Back in his native Syria, his uncle, Mohamed Ahmed al Ahmed, told BBC Arabic that his nephew “made us proud, our village, Syria, all Muslims and the entire world.”

As reported by the Herald, Ahmed arrived in Australia after fleeing civil war in his homeland in 2006 and obtained citizenship in 2022. While initial reports identified him as a fruit seller, Ahmed has been the owner and operator of a tobacco and specialty convenience store since 2021, according to

News Corp Australia.

The lawyer said Ahmed, whose daughters are three and six years old, feels “indebted” to the Australian community and acted as one of its members.

“Ahmed’s a humble man, he’s not interested in coverage, he just did what he was compelled to do as a human being on that day,” he said. “He gets that gratitude from being in Australia. This is his way of conveying his gratitude for staying in Australia, for being granted citizenship.”

His decisive actions have resonated around the world and resulted in several GoFundMe campaigns raising money for him and his family,

the biggest of which

is approaching its new goal of AU$1.7 million (CA$1.56M) as of Monday night in Australia.

“In a moment of chaos and danger, he stepped forward without hesitation. His actions were selfless, instinctive, and undeniably heroic, taken without regard for his own safety,” wrote campaign organizers Car Hub Australia, which kickstarted the donations with a AU$50,000 contribution.

Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management and a fierce supporter of Israel, put forward AU$99,999 for Ahmed, whom he called a

“brave hero” on X.

Australian TV personality Lauren Dunn, who was on the beach as the attack occurred, also celebrated Ahmed’s courage and what it means to Australia.

“That guy that was shooting was just shooting frantically into the crowd, (Ahmed) saved so many people and I can’t say how proud of him I am,” she said, as reported by

BBC

.

“I’m proud to be an Australian in our multi-cultural society where everyone should be safe.”

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