Man Stalked National Athlete & Her Family from JC to University; Hired PI to Film & Spy on her

By
Zhi Hao
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It appears that Singaporean girls simply can’t catch a break.

Apart from one of many, many sexual-related offences they risk facing on a daily basis, they also have to deal with stalkers who just can’t seem to leave them alone, whether it’s that pervasive uncle on the MRT, that one-handing commuter on the bus or in this case…

An intellectually able individual whose obsession proves irrevocably dire.

Man Stalked National Athlete & Her Family from JC to University; Hired PI to Film & Spy on her

According to various news reports, Toh Wen Jie, 20, has pleaded guilty to one count of stalking between October 2018 and February 2020.

He is due to return to court next week.

According to Channel News Asia, Toh first met his victim, a female national athlete, during a sporting event in 2016.

It was not until his second encounter with her in the 2017 Singapore Youth Olympic Festival, however, that his obsession with her truly intensified.

Considering the victim his “eye candy” and “future wife”, he began to stalk her in ‘earnest’, messaging her Instagram account relentlessly and even turning up on her doorstep.

Disinterested, the victim continuously rebuffed his advances.

But Toh was not deterred.

He would religiously send her goodwill messages, and continuously emailed her father and her sports association.

He even went to her father’s workplace to speak to him.

With every rejection, however, his efforts only got more obsessed with nature.

Toh would ask for the victim’s personal details such as her timetable, insist that he had the right to harass her and at one point even hired a private investigator (PI) to tally her daily routine.

He also created numerous Instagram handles to message her each time one was blocked and threatened to inflict harm on anyone who dared to get close to her.

Tired of his advances, the victim and her mother had previously filed a Magistrate’s Complaint. It was ultimately dropped, however, as the family did not wish to see Toh.

Toh’s written statement to the police, indicating that he would leave the victim alone, was also not followed through.

He was eventually arrested.

Sentencing

In court, District Judge Peter Lo accessed the suitability of probation and reformative training for Toh.

He also instructed Toh to leave the woman alone, after an application was filed by the prosecution.

According to Yahoo News, Toh initially chose to contest the case, and was unrepresented despite having engaged one.

“But my grandmother said it was a waste of money, so I fired them,” said Toh.

The accused also stated that the investigating officer had not checked his “side of the story”.

However, he soon gave in, stating that he wished to prevent the victim from any further agony.

The victim had taken the stand as the prosecution’s first witness.

Toh will return to court on 23 April.

For stalking, he could face an imprisonment term of up to a year and a fine of up to S$5,000.

Other Instances

Elsewhere, a student at NUS was charged earlier this year for multiple offences, including stalking a woman and trespassing.

According to a news report, the offender, Ong Jing Xiang, faced three charges: one each of harassment, criminal trespass and unsanctioned usage of the woman’s account on messaging platform Telegram.

Apparently, he had stalked the victim between August 2019 and July 2020 by “sending multiple messages to her communication apps”.

He also allegedly trespassed into her place of residence on campus between 29 and 30 January 2020.

It was around this time that he reportedly procured access, unsanctioned, to the woman’s Telegram account.

And in another incident, a property agent, Lee, met his victim at a Prudential insurance roadshow in 2017. They met up later to discuss insurance policy matters.

He developed an attraction towards her in late 2018 and made his feelings known to her in a face-to-face meeting.

She rejected him, saying she just wanted to maintain a professional relationship with him.

The 31-year-old began calling the victim and sending gifts to her at her workplace.

Stumped because of their working relationship, she avoided his calls and pleaded with him to stop sending gifts to her work as it could get her in trouble with her superiors.

But Lee did not stop.

Over the next seven months, he called her 11 times and sent her at least 44 messages. He even threatened to terminate his insurance policies with her in some of his messages.

He also stalked her on three occasions.

The 31-year-old was eventually fined $4,200 after pleading guilty to one charge of unlawful stalking.

Featured Image: yamasan0708/ Shutterstock.com

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Zhi Hao
Email: [email protected]