24 September 2008

Paul the stalker gets bail pending appeal

| johnboy
Join the conversation
11

The ABC has a chilling story of one Paul Henderson of Charnwood who is now out on bail while his appeal on stalking charges is heard:

    “The court heard he met the woman at a Belconnen gym in July 2002.

    She changed gyms two years later and noticed Henderson did as well but their relationship did not extend beyond them seeing each other in passing.

    The woman began receiving text messages from Henderson.

    He also tried to send her $1,000 worth of flowers, left an engagement ring with her solicitor and had the woman’s name tattooed on his arm.”

Should being creepy be a crime? (Caring is Creepy)

Consider that his two year sentence is up there with stabbing one’s mother to death.

Join the conversation

11
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest
tylersmayhem11:59 am 25 Sep 08

Consider that his two year sentence is up there with stabbing one’s mother to death.

2 years is no where near enough for stabbing ones mother to death – but probably about right for this kind of stalking. I would have thought she’d have a restraint order of types, and if it was broken…off behind bars for him.

I really feel uneasy about him being out on bail in the mean-time. While it’s quite different, look what recently happened when the police let of the dude in Finland. I worry that sometimes people on bail use the time as the last chance to carry out more serious acts.

NoAddedMSG said :

As a friend of mine was fond of saying “it’s only stalking if you get caught”…… although, on a more serious note, I used with work with someone who had a stalker. Both were female and I don’t think it was sexual, but it was really bizarre and awful for the stalkee. She moved her kids to a new school, the stalker followed with her kids. The stalker would turn up at school events and film the stalkee, and drive slowly past her house several times every evening. After things went missing, the stalkee had to get a locked mail box, and stop hanging her washing on the line… lots of little things which added up to her living under seige, and it is all very difficult to deal with through the police. Threatening and repetitive phonecalls are easier to prove and prosecute than a lot of other things. I think what made it so scary for the woman being stalked was that it was so far out of the range of normal behaviour that she don’t know what was going to happen next or what to expect, so her fear was intensified even though no physical threats were ever made.

oh that is scary!

mate of mine was being stalked by her ex-husband. He actually got a locksmith to cut him a set of keys to her house, he got his DAUGHTER to get the keys for him, and he would enter the house when she was at work and move stuff around, leave cryptic notes, etc.

he was busted when she found him sitting next to her sister’s bed, who was in it, asleep, stroking her hair.

known s#x offender. shame none of us knew it – but his family did.

As a friend of mine was fond of saying “it’s only stalking if you get caught”…… although, on a more serious note, I used with work with someone who had a stalker. Both were female and I don’t think it was sexual, but it was really bizarre and awful for the stalkee. She moved her kids to a new school, the stalker followed with her kids. The stalker would turn up at school events and film the stalkee, and drive slowly past her house several times every evening. After things went missing, the stalkee had to get a locked mail box, and stop hanging her washing on the line… lots of little things which added up to her living under seige, and it is all very difficult to deal with through the police. Threatening and repetitive phonecalls are easier to prove and prosecute than a lot of other things. I think what made it so scary for the woman being stalked was that it was so far out of the range of normal behaviour that she don’t know what was going to happen next or what to expect, so her fear was intensified even though no physical threats were ever made.

NoAddedMSG…… with a list like that you can rattle off, now who’s the stalker??

Or as one might occasionally do in a gym, she left her mobile phone unattended and he grabbed it. Or she runs a business and has her mobile phone number on her car. Or her mobile is listed in the phonebook, or Facebook (and she hadn’t restricted her privacy settings). Or he said to a not-so-bright friend of hers at the same gym “oh, I lost my phone and all the numbers in it, have you got xxx’s number?” There are a lot of ways to get hold of someone’s mobile without actually asking them.

Aurelius said :

Jessieduck,
No. Simply that if they only spoke ‘in passing’, it seems odd he’d have her mobile number.
I know plenty of people in passing. It rarely includes one of us saying “Hey, what’s your mobile number?”

Cool :c)

Except in this case he’s already been found guilty.

grunge_hippy8:28 pm 24 Sep 08

there are 2 sides to every story…. but having experience in the stalking variety, i would imagine she innocently gave him her number, as one does when meeting new people in a social context like a gym, and he may have taken this a tad too far.

innocent until proven guilty… anyone remember that concept of law?

damn, and i had to give up jury duty, could have been a juicy one!

Jessieduck,
No. Simply that if they only spoke ‘in passing’, it seems odd he’d have her mobile number.
I know plenty of people in passing. It rarely includes one of us saying “Hey, what’s your mobile number?”

Are you implying that if she gave him her number it was her fault he turned out to be a nutter?

I assume there’s more to this than this brief report.
Because while this behaviour marks him as a loser, it’s hardly criminal.

Oh, and did he just randomly guess her mobile number??

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.