It started with a notice on an online bulletin board he knew Joanne would see: her name, her husband’s name, their address, e-mail and telephone number. Then, to show he was watching, small details about her family would appear — updates her children had posted on their Facebook sites, with comments such as “X doesn’t seem to be very happy today.”
A series of false allegations followed. That Joanne and her husband were pedophiles who had sold their daughter to him for sex; that Joanne was a drug dealer and had been involved in criminal activities at work.
The harassment consumed Joanne, 47, and her family, but police failed to take it seriously, she says.
“It was in the hands of a community support officer. They just thought I was a hysterical woman. He put us though hell. It was terrifying. One Monday I got up and I couldn’t do anything but cry. I thought he was going to kill me,” she said.
They knew who he was, a casual acquaintance with a grudge, but it was only after attacks on their car began, causing £3,000 (US$4,900) of damage, that he was arrested and charged with harassment, criminal damage and falsifying an alibi. The harassment charge was dropped in a plea bargain and he was sentenced to 200 hours’ community service plus costs for criminal damage.
Joanne wants a “more robust law” so that stalkers can be convicted and punished appropriately.
“Otherwise people like him will continue to be allowed to make people’s lives a misery,” she said.
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
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