Stalker making woman’s life hell for six years

A single mother in Manchester says her life has become a nightmare, as a man has been stalking her for six long years, making life difficult for her and her daughter.

"You ever hear some people say they're living on the edge? That's how I'm living," said 37-year-old Lisa*, who described the sleepless nights, the constant vigilance, and the terror of not knowing when her stalker will show up next. Lisa said the ordeal began in 2019, when she was operating a small bar.

"One day a customer told me that there is a man walking around in the community and saying my daughter is his," she recalled. She eventually saw the man, and later that year, he appeared at her gate, dragging a suitcase "with Bible, pillow, clothes and everything", claiming he had come to live with his "babymother", referring to her. One day, the stalker even got into a confrontation with her landlord's brother who was fixing the driveway.

"I don't know how the altercation started but the stalker used a stick and inflict wounds on the elderly man that it cracked his skull and he was admitted at KPH. Mi thank God the man didn't die." Lisa said she has made countless reports to the police.

"Sometimes they warn him but it never go further than that," she said. She moved in 2021, but the stalker found her again, leaving a note on her garage shutter. She took it to the cops, who called in the man's parents. He was allegedly taken to a hospital for a time. But Lisa said the torment continued, as the man continues to call and message her.

"So mi block one number, a so him get different number. When him tired and nuh get no new number after mi block him, a 123 voice message him send. That's how determined him be," she said. Lisa said the man has come to her home several times, including recently when she was alone.

"I was spraying wasps so mi draw fi the Baygon and lighter and a so him start back up. Luckily a mason I was expecting came same time," she said. The man even sent a threat via voice note.

"That's how mi finally get something fi carry him go court. [But] all now them nuh charge him from around May," she said. Lisa said her daughter has also been affected.

"My child cannot play, she cannot experience childhood because she is aware of the situation and has to be inside," Lisa cried. "She cannot go outside, the most playful time she have is when she comes with me to work."

Lisa said that a mediator was appointed but the person cancelled one of the sessions, stating that the man's mother cannot speak against her own son. Lisa feels let down by the system.

"It's like nobody nah hear what me a say. I even go to the court for a restraining order and they told me that mi can't get it because we don't have a relationship," she said. "So mi ago deh pon road and man lick me down and lick down my pickney and nothing nuh come out of it?"

Veteran attorney Peter Champagnie K.C. said that Lisa's ordeal fits the legal definition of stalking.

"That's a criminal act, saying that if someone does not enter into a relationship with you and that you're going to cause harm to the person if they do not engage you intimately, then it's a criminal act," he said. He noted that reporting the matter to the police is the first step.

"The next thing that needs to happen, is that the police need to go to him, arrest and charge him, and give him a court date to come before the court. And then the judge will impose conditions of bail... And if he breaches that condition, he goes into custody," he said. He opined that if mental illness is raised as a defence, the court is more likely to remand him in custody for a psychiatric evaluation, to see if he's a danger to society.

He added that although Jamaica's laws don't yet have a dedicated "stalking act", there are still legal remedies available.

"If it is that the stalker is related to the person, for example an estranged or common-law spouse, you can go to the Family Court to get a restraining order. As it relates to persons not being related, you can go to the Supreme Court to get a restraint order," he said.

Through tears, Lisa said she only wants her nightmare to end.

"I didn't cause it in myself because I don't know him, I did not like him, mi neva deh wid him."

*Name changed to protect identity