A Singaporean man repeatedly harassed and stalked his insurance agent, who he was romantically interested in, for more than seven months.
On Thursday (Feb. 25), 31-year-old Simon Lee Yong Sheng pleaded guilty for one charge of unlawful stalking and was fined S$4,200, reported Today.
Met at an insurance roadshow
According to court documents seen by Mothership, Lee and the woman — whose identity cannot be revealed due to a gag order — met at a Prudential insurance roadshow in 2017.
Lee, who was employed as a real estate agent at the time, subsequently exchanged text messages with the woman, and the two met up to discuss insurance policy-related matters.
Near the end of 2018, Lee became romantically attracted to the woman, and told her when they met up face-to-face that he was interested in dating her.
She rebuffed him and told him that she was interested only in a professional relationship, and not a romantic one.
Lee, however, persisted.
Sent at least 44 text and WhatsApp messages
Sometime in 2019, Lee began texting the woman more frequently, with the majority of the messages being unrelated to his insurance policy.
The woman rarely replied these messages, and when she did, she made it clear that she was still not interested in being romantically involved with him.
Lee remained undeterred and began approaching the woman in multiple different ways, such as by calling her and sending gifts to her workplace on special occasions.
She avoided his calls, and pleaded with him not to send her gifts, as she would get into trouble with her superiors.
The woman was unable to block Lee from calling or messaging her, though, because he was her client and she felt that she owed a professional duty to him to be contactable for insurance policy-related issues, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Yee Jia Rong.
In addition, ending her professional relationship with him would have an adverse affect on her work performance.
By July 2019, the frequency and intensity of the Lee's communications had escalated to the point where the woman began feeling alarmed and harassed by his actions.
Between Jul. 16, 2019 and Feb. 11, 2020, he sent her at least 44 text and WhatsApp messages, including threats to cancel his insurance policies with her.
He also called her at least 11 times during that period, and sent her gifts at least twice.
Physically followed her three times
Lee also followed the woman on three separate occasions.
On Jul. 16, 2019, she was walking to Novena MRT station when she encountered Lee walking in the opposite direction.
He then followed her to the MRT station, despite the woman telling him that she was late and could not speak with him. He continued to follow into the station, onto the MRT, out of Newton MRT station, and all the way to her workplace.
Lee only left after the woman told him off and entered the building.
Then, on Nov. 8, 2019, Lee followed the woman for a second time.
She was meeting two of her other clients at a coffeeshop at in Tanjong Pagar when Lee spotted her. When she ended the meeting and was about to leave with a female colleague and the clients, Lee approached her.
She told him to stay away from them, but he refused to do so.
She then had to ask her clients if she could follow them back to their home, for her safety. Her clients agreed, and the four of them walked back to their HDB block. Lee followed them.
After the woman, her colleague, and the two clients entered the lift at the HDB block, Lee continued to wait at the ground floor for some time until he finally left.
On Feb. 11, 2020, the woman was at Newton MRT station with two colleagues when she encountered Lee.
The woman and her colleagues told Lee to leave them alone, but he insisted on following them. One of her colleagues then called the police, saying, "This guy following us and now don’t want to let us go."
Lee followed the woman when she tried to enter a lift. When she exited the lift and tried to take a different lift, he followed her again.
This happened several times, until the woman went to a security post to seek assistance.
Lee then finally left.
According to court documents, Lee reported to the police station on the same day of the third stalking incident, after being requested to do so by the investigation officer.
Prosecution pushed for maximum S$5,000 fine
DPP Yee acknowledged that while Lee did not have intention to harm the woman, his stalking and harassment took place over an "exceptionally lengthy" span of almost seven months, and gradually escalated in terms of frequency and severity, despite the woman's pleas for him to stop.
The woman reportedly also has experienced a fear of taking public transportation ever since the third stalking incident.
The prosecution advocated for the maximum fine of S$5,000, after taking into account that Lee had pleaded guilty and cooperated with authorities.