Former restaurant manager convicted of sex offences has likely fled Canada

GUELPH – A former Fergus fast-food restaurant manager found guilty of sexually assaulting two teenage employees was sentenced to a year in jail on Oct. 9 – but he was nowhere to be found.

Superior Court Justice Cynthia Petersen sentenced Navpreet Nahar, 35, in his absence in Guelph court last Friday after finding he has absconded.

Nahar was last seen in court on July 3, when Petersen found him guilty of sexually touching an underage person (interference), exploiting a young person by touching them sexually, and two counts of sexual assault, following a trial in May.

He was charged in 2021-22 after two women, aged 15 and 16 at the time, alleged Nahar touched their buttocks repeatedly and in one incident grabbed one of the women’s breasts at work while he was their supervisor.

The Advertiser is not naming the restaurant to avoid identifying the women, who cannot be named under a publication ban.

“I’m prepared to draw an adverse inference that he’s not here because he intentionally left the country to avoid the sentencing hearing, which I think amounts to absconding,” the judge said.

Court heard a probation officer was unable to reach Nahar by phone, and that he missed an appointment for a pre-sentencing report after a letter was hand-delivered to a Brampton address he was connected to.

Someone identifying themselves as Nahar later called the officer, claiming he was in India and unable to return to Canada because of his immigration status.

Petersen said the likelihood of the person pretending to be Nahar “is so far-fetched, it defies belief.”

Defence lawyer Robert Christie said he was unable to reach Nahar and had no instructions from him. Christie declined to make sentencing recommendations on Nahar’s behalf.

As suggested by prosecutor Stacey Hamilton, Petersen imposed two consecutive six-month sentences, for a year total, on a count of sexual assault and the count of sexual exploitation, followed by three years of probation. 

The remaining counts of sexual assault and interference were stayed.

Petersen said though Nahar’s offences were “not at the most intrusive end of the spectrum of sexual assaults,” they were repeated and had significant negative impact on the victims. 

One victim impact statement described self-blame, anxiety and ongoing psychological challenges, the judge noted.

“Six months is at the lower end of the range, and I would have entertained a submission for something heavier,” Petersen said, noting Nahar’s position of authority and that the victims were under 18 at the time of the offences.

The judge later issued an arrest warrant for Nahar, who faces jail if he returns to Canada.