Waiter jailed for stalking girl and trespassing into her home
Part-time waiter jailed for six weeks
A part-time waiter relentlessly stalked a 17-year-old girl and trespassed into her home multiple times by using a stolen key after she rejected his advances.
The 24-year-old man, who cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the teenager's identity, was jailed for six weeks yesterday after pleading guilty to two theft charges and one count each of stalking and trespassing.
Six other charges for similar offences were considered during sentencing.
The girl was studying in a fast-food restaurant in Tampines in late 2016 when the waiter first saw her.
Court papers did not mention if he was an employee there.
The man approached the teenager as he found her attractive. She rebuffed his advances.
From then on, she saw him at the eatery every time she was there to study. On one occasion, he handed her a paper flower.
After that, he would wait at the same location and approach the girl to give her a similar gift each time he saw her.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Jotham Tay said the man's actions made her uncomfortable and she got a friend to accompany her to the restaurant.
NOT DETERRED
DPP Tay added: "When approached by the accused again, the friend told the accused that the girl was attached and was not comfortable with the accused."
But he was not deterred.
In November 2016, he happened to walk past a void deck in Tampines when he spotted her walking out of her flat in the same block.
Realising he finally knew where she lived, the man later went up to her unit to see if she was home and noticed that somebody had left a key in the front gate. He took the key so that he could enter her home in the future.
By using the key, the man trespassed into the flat several times and stole some of the girl's letters to use her name to search for her on social media.
He returned to the flat when he failed to locate her online.
On Nov 22, 2016, the man entered her flat at around 3.30am and stole a bra, which he mistakenly thought belonged to the girl.
The man was still lurking in the flat when the boyfriend of the girl's sister stepped out of a room and spotted him.
The trespasser ran out of the unit and fled down the stairs before throwing away the key.
For stalking, he could have been jailed for up to a year and fined up to $5,000. And for trespassing, he could have jailed for up to a year and fined up to $3,000.
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