A Vancouver man has been charged with aggravated assault after an alleged assault on two young women who had rented his Airbnb following.
“I don’t know what happened with him and these two young women in particular,” said witness and neighbor Saad Mustafa. “But he turned on them in a very, very violent way.
“It was (was) awful. There was blood everywhere.
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It was a terrifying wake-up call for Mustafa, who said he saw his former neighbor turn against his Airbnb guests. Global News has learned that the guests are two sisters from Alberta.
At around 3 a.m. on May 27, he said he heard frantic female screams and a man screaming.
“He was pushing the girl against the wall and I heard banging against the wall,” Mustafa recalled. “He was like, ‘Why did you push my cat?'”
His instinct told him to get up and take a look. He said he opened the door to his apartment to a gruesome scene in the hallway.
“A young woman, she appeared to have a stab wound to her neck or neck area. It was covered with a long white scarf or shawl. She was on the ground, lying on her back and she was bleeding very, very heavily,” he said.
“There was another young woman who was pinned to the wall and threatened with a knife.”
Mustafa said he returned to his apartment to get his phone and called 911, while the attacker was still armed.
“I was yelling at him to drop the knife.”
Startled, he said the suspect left through a side door.
In the seconds before emergency crews arrived, Mustafa said he stood guard, making sure the badly injured woman kept pressure on her neck.
“I personally had a very serious concern that she might not survive.”
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Police and paramedics were able to save her after the suspect was arrested, he said.
Arvin Pasha, 32, has since been charged with one count of aggravated assault involving two alleged victims.
“It was very surprising to me,” said Mustafa, who said he had known the suspect for six years.
Airbnb confirmed the May 27 incident happened in an announcement in Vancouver involving the host and guests.
In a statement, the company said there have been more than a billion guest arrivals on Airbnb to date and incidents like this are exceptionally rare. When they happen, Airbnb said it takes immediate action to support customers.
“Reported violence has no place in our community and we take these incidents extremely seriously,” he said in a statement.
“In this case, this included a full refund as well as theft and other expenses. The host has been removed from our platform and we stand ready to support the Vancouver Police Department in their investigation.
The City of Vancouver has confirmed that there is a commercial short-term rental license valid for 2022 for the apartment linked to the alleged Airbnb stabbing.
Under city regulations, if a permit holder is found guilty of an infraction, city staff will conduct a review to determine next steps regarding the status of that permit.
According to the federal regulator Corporations Canada, Pasha was a director of a numbered company headquartered at Unit 5 at 2130 West 3rd Avenue in Vancouver. Records show the company was incorporated in 2020 and dissolved in February.
“It’s very, very scary – very alarming,” said Mustafa, who was grateful to learn that the two alleged victims had sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
“Before I knew they survived, I was a mess,” Mustafa said. “Have I done enough, should I have done more? Why didn’t I do more?
Pasha remains in custody pending a psychiatric evaluation scheduled for June 24. None of the allegations have been tested in court.
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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