B.C. repeat offender who hit 19-year-old woman with a pole to be sentenced

A repeat Vancouver offender was in court Friday for a number of offences he pleaded guilty to, but the sentencing hearing has now been delayed.

Mohammed Majidpour, 35, has a long rap sheet with criminal records spanning back to 2015, with more than 30 convictions.

Those convictions include assault, assault with a weapon and uttering threats.

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For his sentencing hearing, Majidpour pleaded guilty to assault with a weapon, theft under $5,000 and arson damaging property.

These offences are related to a number of incidents Majidpour found himself in the centre of over the past few years.

He was accused of torching a car and hitting a 19-year-old Asian woman over the head with a pole on Sept. 27, 2022, near Dunsmuir and Cambie streets.

Majidpour is also on the hook for another incident in October 2022, where Majidpour was released from custody for a separate offence and was arrested just three hours later for stealing more than $300 worth of products from an H&M store.

Majidpour’s arson charge is related to an incident where a car was torched, as well. The sentencing hearing has been delayed Friday morning.

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The B.C. government has been trying to address the years-long issue of low-level repeat offenders in the province.

In April, B.C. launched its Repeat Violent Offending Intervention Initiative.

Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth, Premier David Eby, and Attorney General Niki Sharma released details of the 12-hub program in Nanaimo. The initiative was first announced in March and is operational in May.

The hubs will work with local stakeholders and existing programs, including treatment teams, through collaborative information-sharing.

Each regional hub will house a dedicated team of police, prosecutors and probation officers who will pool their expertise, co-ordinate responses and attempt to achieve better outcomes when repeat, violent offenders present themselves. They will monitor cases involving prolific offenders through the investigation, court process and community supervision phase in an attempt to break cycles of recidivism.

The Repeat Violent Offending Intervention Initiative comes with an initial three-year investment of $25 million, which will support a program roster of 42 BC Prosecution Service staff and Crown counsellors, four BC Corrections officers, nine correctional supervisors and 21 probation officers.

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—- with files from Elizabeth McSheffrey and Amy Judd