Jorryn, Author at Goody Feed

When girls think of getting a boyfriend, they probably imagine Prince Charming on a white horse from their childhood fairytales. Some might also imagine one of the male leads from the K-dramas that they watch. Unfortunately, reality is always very vastly different from fiction. For one unfortunate girl, the gap between reality and fiction turned out to be huge: not only did she not get the ideal boyfriend, she didn't even get a normal one. Instead, she got an obsessive lover who just wouldn't leave her alone. The Sentence On Tuesday (15 June), 26-year-old Gabriel Heng Jing Heng was sentenced to one-and-a-half years' jail and fined S$3000. He had pleaded guilty to three counts of criminal intimidation, as well as one charge each of unlawful stalking, mischief, and voluntarily causing hurt. Nine other similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing. Heng will begin serving his sentence on 13 July in order to allow him time to settle some personal affairs, and remains out on bail. Considering the amount of offences this guy committed out on bail, something tells me this isn't a good idea. For each charge of criminal intimidation, Heng could have been sentenced to two years' jail, or fined, or both. For unlawful stalking, he could have been sentenced up to one years' jail, or fined up to S$5,000, or both. How It All Began According to TODAYonline, the victim of Heng's stalking, now aged 24, got to know him in 2016. Allegedly, they did not date but had an intimate relationship. The victim cannot be named due to a court order to protect her identity. In December of 2017, the victim decided to end things with him. However, Heng was unhappy and continued to contact her, so she relented and kept in contact with him. After that, Heng demanded to meet her frequently. When she refused, he would use vulgarities and threats, either verbally or in text messages, to get her to agree, because that's exactly how you get someone to agree to meet you. From 27 July 2018, the victim wisely began to ignore Heng. In true testament to obsessive lover behaviour, she received more than 100 missed calls from Heng within a few days. Telling the victim that he could not control himself any longer, he threatened that if he did not see her at 9:00pm that day, he would burn her house down. He added that if she continued to ignore him, he would slash her mother when she opened the door. He also threatened that he would make sure one of her family members would be killed. As evidence of his threat, Heng sent the victim a photograph of himself in a car. He told the victim that he had taken a private-hire Grab ride and was on the way to her place. The victim eventually blocked Heng on the WhatsApp and Telegram messaging applications. From July 2018 to September 2019, Heng then stalked the victim. He would insult and degrade her through vulgarities, and demand her to act according to his wishes. He also showed up at her house many times. Heng also persistently threatened the victim through text messages he sent, such as telling her, "You be prepared for a lifetime of violence until you manage to hide forever." In August 2018, the victim moved out of the house in order to avoid him. She stayed with another relative until January 2019. Escalation of Matters On 25 July 2019, having been blocked on messaging applications, Heng used another mobile number to contact the victim. When she ignored him, he threatened that he would kill her, her mother and boyfriend. He also said that he would "go to (her) place to trigger a response”. According to court documents shown, one text message among the many he sent her read: "I make sure you kneel down on the floor and beg again. I make sure I turn your whole life upside down." Around 4:00pm on the same day that text message was sent, Heng went to the victim's house. Getting no response after knocking on her door, he then threw coffee at their door before leaving. Footage of this incident was captured by a closed-circuit television camera that her family had installed. Heng then sent a text message telling her "Hope your mum enjoyed (the) coffee". He also said that he would come again the next day with someone else. Heng was charged two days later. However, he was released on bail provided by his 73-year-old grandmother. Of course, because he clearly lent from his lesson, he then proceeded to breach his bail conditions by sending his victim more text messages using his friend's mobile phone. After the victim blocked him on Telegram, Heng then switched to texting her on WhatsApp. He also sent her photographs through her and her boyfriend's Instagram accounts. In late October 2019, Heng went over to his grandmother's house and asked her for money to hire a lawyer. When his grandmother declined, Heng argued with her and told her that he would burn down her house. He then punched her in the shoulder. Following this, Heng's grandmother then discharged herself of her responsibilities as his bailor. Mental Disorders Did Not Contribute to Offences Originally, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Regina Lim sought at least 22 months' jail and a fine. She noted that while Heng had mental disorders, there was no clear evidence that they contributed to his offences. Now, if only they would say this for every sexual harassment case. His past history of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was unlikely to have been the main contributing factor, found a psychiatrist from the Institute of Mental Health (IMH). Heng's father also said that he felt that his son was "riding on" and "making use of his condition to excuse his misconduct". And hey, at least his father isn't defending him. DPP Lim further noted that Heng had committed one-third of his offences while out on bail. Yikes. He never gives it a rest, does he? In mitigation, Heng's lawyers, Mr Josephus Tan and Mr Cory Wong from Invictus Law Corporation, told the court that he had been exempted from National Service due to his mental condition. District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt took into account the two-month period that Heng was remanded in IMH while sentencing him. Feature Image: yamasan0708 / Shutterstock.com