Dilshad Ali Zada will serve an 18-month sentence in the community after the Saskatoon woman pleaded guilty to charges resulting from human trafficking activity.
Ali Zada, 25, was scheduled to begin a judge-alone trial Tuesday, but instead pleaded guilty to theft over $5,000, uttering threats and withholding identification documents.
“That’s one of the hallmarks of human trafficking is exerting control. It’s a slow process of intimidation and control,” Crown prosecutor Katharine Grier told reporters.
Justice Mona Dovell accepted a joint submission from the Crown and defence that, in addition to the 18-month sentence, also includes the condition that Ali Zada not engage in the sex trade or escort industry.
Dovell described Ali Zada as a “conduit” within a larger network. No other charges have been laid.
Grier said the case didn’t go to trial, in part, due to out-of-province witnesses having to travel to Saskatoon during the COVID-19 pandemic, along with “the extremely traumatic nature” of the potential testimony from victims.
Ali Zada’s charges are related to three women: an 18-year-old from Moose Jaw and two 20-year-old women from Shawinigan, Quebec. Ali Zada is originally from Afghanistan, and speaks multiple languages, court heard.
In December 2018, Ali Zada began messaging the 18-year-old on Snapchat. She befriended the teen by paying for hair and nail services, buying her lingerie and more.
The 18-year-old was a registered escort, but what started as an agreement to split proceeds 50-50 with the escort paying associated costs, turned into Ali Zada keeping all the money.
She advertised escort dates at hotels, often for services the workers didn’t want to do, Grier said.
The other two women approached Saskatoon police in March 2019, reporting that Ali Zada had been “pimping” them and had taken a dog, passport, birth certificate and an adult service license from one of the woman.
“Ms. Ali Zada was the day-to-day contact with these young women and exerted the control and was very much a player,” Grier said.
She was “probably not the big boss involved in this,” Grier added.
Defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle said Ali Zada’s actions are different from what the public often perceives human trafficking to be: international schemes of kidnapping, smuggling and violence.
Controlling identification and cash is at the lower end of the human trafficking continuum, Pfefferle said.
“There is a method behind this and it’s not purely exploitive, but nevertheless, the acknowledgement here today is that it amounted to a criminal offence,” Pfefferle said.
In court, Ali Zada offered a two-word apology: “I’m sorry.”
Seven counts related to human trafficking were stayed as part of Tuesday’s joint submission.