Unable to deal with being dumped by his girlfriend, a 48-year-old man took to harassing the woman in various ways, including following her car with his e-scooter.

During one quarrel with his ex-lover, Lim Teck Kim even hit his own face multiple times and blamed the bruises on the woman.

At the State Courts on Wednesday (31 October), Lim was sentenced to three months’ jail and fined $500 for one count of unlawful stalking under the Protection from Harassment Act and one count of criminal trespass. The woman cannot be named due to a court-imposed gag order.

Relationship gone sour

According to court documents, Lim and the woman – who has a son – began a romantic relationship sometime in 2016. She broke up with him in December that year.

Sometime in mid-2017, the woman told her condominium security guards not to let Lim onto the premises. The condominium’s management also told the security officers to call the police if they found him trying to enter the property.

Self-inflicted injuries

For around three weeks earlier this year, Lim also stalked and harassed the woman.

At about 1am on 23 February, Lim was at the woman’s apartment when he began hitting his own face – after which he blamed the injuries on the woman for making her hit himself. Lim had been upset at the time over a quarrel he had just had with the woman.

Appalled by Lim’s actions, the woman tried to pacify him and allowed him to stay over.

That same day, the woman returned home early at Lim’s insistence. At about 6.30pm, the woman observed that Lim’s bruises were better.

Lim then threatened to hurt himself again if the woman made him leave or if she left him. He also began hitting himself in the face and flinging things around.

He also spat the blood from his mouth onto the woman’s side table. The woman became afraid and asked her domestic helper to seek help from the condominium’s security officers.

About an hour later, Lim shouted that he would kill rather himself than end their relationship.

Police officers later arrived at the scene and they arrested Lim for attempted suicide. Lim was released on bail the next day.

Stalking continues

In March, Lim sent messages to the woman begging to see her.

On 4 March, the two met at the condominium’s guardhouse where Lim asked to rekindle the relationship. The woman asked Lim not to bother her any more.

Lim left only after he spotted the woman’s son looking for her.

Two days later, knowing that the woman had a chiropractic session at Bukit Timah Shopping Centre, Lim waited for her and spoke to her at the carpark. He met her again at the same carpark two days later and said he would jump off a building but had no guts to do so.

The woman then lodged a police report two days later and blocked Lim on her phone.

Chased car on e-scooter

On 12 March, the condominium’s security guard texted the woman to inform her that Lim had been spotted loitering at the bus stop outside the property. As the woman drove out out the condominium, Lim followed her on his e-scooter.

He followed her along Toh Tuck Road, Jalan Jurong Kechil and Old Jurong Road. At one point, Lim stopped his device in front of the woman’s car and gestured for her to alight.

She sounded her horn at him and shook him off. However, Lim returned to the condominium to await her return. The woman later called the police.

When the woman returned home with her son, she found Lim waiting for her at the basement carpark. He had ridden his e-scooter into the driveway meant for residents, escaping the notice of the security guard.

The woman immediately proceeded to the lift lobby where she called for security and called the police again.

At about 9.15pm that night, a security guard spotted Lim in the carpark through the CCTV cameras and went to confront him. Lim fled the condominium when he spotted the security guard.

The next day, Lim again followed the woman as she drove to work. She shook him off by taking a different route.

Protection order granted

The woman was granted an expedited protection order on 15 March forbidding Lim from harassing, alarming or distressing the woman and her son. He was also prohibited from loitering near her residence, her son’s school and any place where the woman had business.

She was granted a full protection order to the same effect the following month.

For stalking, Lim could have been jailed up to a year and/or fined a maximum $5,000. For criminal trespass, Lim could have been jailed up to three months and/or fined up to $1,500.

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