An infamous South Okanagan criminal is back behind bars facing new criminal charges.
Afshin Maleki Ighani was in Penticton provincial court via video from the Okanagan Correction Centre on Feb. 15 for first appearance on charges of wilfully resisting or obstructing an officer and driving while prohibited for an alleged incident that took place in Okanagan Falls on Nov. 30, 2023.
He is back in court to consult legal counsel on Feb. 28.
The last time he was before the courts was in 2020 for a sentencing to time served for five assault charges relating to two separate assaults at Okanagan Correctional Centre (OCC) for which he had earlier pleaded guilty.
The 52-year-old had been in jail since April 22, 2017.
According to court documents, in 2017, Ighani stabbed fellow inmates Peter Beckett, who is serving time for the 2010 first-degree murder of his wife and convicted child molester David McHale.
The other charge related to the 2018 assault of a female OCC officer who received “severe bruising” while attempting to return him to his cell.
Ighani got his notoriety in 2017 when he was arrested in 2017, following a Canada-wide man-hunt on kidnapping charges. He was charged with 10 kidnapping and weapons offences in relation to an incident that took place in Okanagan Falls and Princeton where he was eventually caught.
During the crime spree, it’s alleged Ighani shot Thomas Szajko, leading to a major police presence on a quiet residential street in the town of Oliver, where Ighani was believed to have been staying in a camper trailer.
While police were looking for him, he allegedly kidnapped two people, who were later identified as key witnesses and who had agreed to drive him from Okanagan Falls to the Lower Mainland for $400. On the way, he took control of the vehicle and forced them to turn off on a logging road between Princeton and Manning Park.
The vehicle stopped about six kilometres along the road, where one of them was forced to get out and start digging.
Police at the time said all three were people who were known to each other.
He was acquitted of all of those charges after defence lawyer Paul McMurray convinced the presiding judge there was sufficient doubt relating to the testimony of the two key crown witnesses, one of who fled to the United States after testifying.
Attempted murder and weapons charges against Ighani relating to the shooting of Szajko were stayed after Szajko, the key witness, died months later of an unrelated cause.