1969-1994 THE VOC

September 18, 1994 64 pages

Painful evidence

NORTH VANCOUVER mechanic Ron Gulley suffered serious injuries to both
arms when a vapor trail ignited spilled gasoline. Now he is unable to make a

living. See stories page 5.

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See

Office, Editorial 985-2131

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E OF NORTH AND WEST VANCOUVER

Display Advertising 980-0511

NEWS photo Neil Lucente

FALL FASHION
Schoolgirl looks rise to
the head of the class,
while menswear gets
back to the basics.

Classifieds 986-6222

PARIS POOCH

West Vancouver cafe
The Remarkable Dog
brings the flavor of
France to North Shore.

Distribution 986-1337

B.C. Supreme Court hears
alleged molestation victim

A NORTH Vancouver pedi-
atric dentist molested a par-
tially sedated 13-year-old
girl with one hand while he
held his dental tool in the
other, a former patient testi-
fied in B.C. Supreme Court
on Thursday.

By Brent Mudry

Contributing Writer

“As he would reach for a tool he
would fondle my breasts,” claims
the wontan, now 32 years ald, who
said the contact was her first sexual
experience.

Dr. Adi Boman Irani, 55, stands
charged with 27 counts of indecent
and sexual assault and gross inde-
cency involving 22 2 alleged victims.
The victims ranged in age from five
to 19. The alleged incidents took
place over a 12-year period ending
in 1983. Crown prosecutor Ingrid
Friesen said the B.C College of
Dental Surgeons did nothing to
testrict Irani’s practice despite
complaints fron several families.

Publicity of one woman's com-
plaint to the RCMP two years ago
encouraged other alleged victims to
step forward.

The woman testifying Thursday

Westview

told the six men and six women of
the jury that she had many appoint-
ments with Irani for dental work
over a one-year period. When she
arrived, she was given a small
“happy pill” by a receptionist to
calm her dental anxiety.

Irani then gave her nitrous
oxide, commonly known as laugh-
ing gas, to relax her. “He said it
would make me imagine aff sorts of
funny things,” the woman told
Justice Allan Stewari and the jury.
“He would start rubbing in a circu-
lar motion between my legs,” she
recalled.

Richard Peck, one of Irani’s
three lawyers in court, reminded
the woman of her denial of losing
consciousness and entering a
“dream-like state” contradicted her
testimony from an earlier prelimi-
nary hearing.

“Those were your own words,”
said Peck, one of B.C.’s top crimi-
nal lawyers.

“Do you like that?” the woman
recalls Irani asking while he rubbed
her all over her body during one
visit. “That made it clear | wasn’t
imagining what happened — it
couldn't have meant anything else,”
she testified. The woman said she
told her mother, switched dentists,
and never returned to Irani. The
trial continues.

project

open to all bidders

THE PROVINCIAL govern-
ment wants the new
Westview Interchange to be
built quickly and on budget
with tenders cpened to union
and non-union bidders.

By Anna Marie D'Angelo

News Reporter

Unlike the Vancouver Island
Highway project, which included
an agreement that union members
be employed, the Westview
Interchange project is open to all.

“We are very pleased to sve that
the government is entertaining the
idea thar the private sector be
involved. After all, they can do it
just as efficiently or more so.” said
West Vancouver-Capilang MEA
Jeremy Dalton,

Employment and Tnvesiment
CEE) Minister Glen Clark
announced in July that the $33.5.

Ee oa a aE ANY

million interchange would be com-
pleted by the spring of 1998. The
interchange will be similar to the
Upper Levels Highway overpass at
Lonsdale Avenue.

Right now, the Westview Drive
traffic Jight on the Upper Levels
Highway is the cause of daily traf-
fic jams. The light is the only one
remaining on the highway between
Horseshoe Bay and Kamloops.

The provincial government is
trying out a new public- private
sector tendering approach for the
interchange in an effort to speed up
construction.

EE spokesman Shawn Thomas
said bidders will submit one pack-
age covering all aspects of the pro-
ject including design and construc-
tion. Previously, new tenders tor
each phase of work would be ealled
for as the project went along.

Narth Vancouver NDP MLA
David Schreck said he supports
vanything tuospeed up the inter-
Change’s constuchon,

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