‘Like an unwanted surveillance camera’: Man jailed for stalking ex-employee at her home, workplace

SINGAPORE: For at least one year, a man stalked his former employee by lurking at her home and workplace, and sending her unwanted gifts and emails.

Sven Teo Jin Kiat, 35, was jailed for three months on Monday (Jan 13) after pleading guilty to one count of stalking, with another similar charge taken into consideration.

The stalking charges covered the period from November 2023 to September 2024, as well as November to December 2024.

The 29-year-old victim used to work for Teo at his salon. During that time, Teo confessed that he was interested in her but she rejected him as he was married.

The woman left Teo’s salon and was hired at another salon that assigned her to work at different branches in various locations.

After the woman had stopped working for Teo, from January 2023 to September 2024, he loitered and lurked around places she frequented, such as the void deck of her home and the salons where she worked.

Teo would lurk for about an hour at her void deck, and sometimes park his car at the car park near her block. This happened almost daily.

He would follow the victim on her commute between work and home. At times, she would see his blue car behind the bus she was taking, or following her as she took the MRT.

The victim had not told Teo where her new workplace was and did not know how he found the information.

Teo also sent the victim unwanted gifts at least four times. These included a Christian Dior bag and food to which he attached notes that professed his feelings for her.

From January to October 2024, he sent the victim 31 emails from seven different email addresses, professing his love and asking her to meet him.

In the emails, Teo called her cruel and heartless for not responding to him and asked her to withdraw her police complaints against him.

Teo wanted to speak to the victim about their relationship and persuade her to continue working for him at the salon, Deputy Public Prosecutor Gladys Lim said.

From June 2023 to December 2024, the victim made seven police reports against Teo. She also confronted him on two to three occasions, even though he tried to run away every time she spotted him.

In January 2024, the victim told Teo she did not want to talk to him and asked why he kept bothering her.

That same month, Teo was investigated by the police and advised to refrain from criminal conduct, but he persisted.

In late 2024, after being charged with stalking and released on bail, Teo reoffended by continuing to stalk the victim on at least four occasions.

On one day in December 2024, he lurked around an MRT station and her lunch spot after finding out that she would be there, as well as near her home.

Teo’s stalking harassed and distressed the victim, the prosecutor said.

“She was so affected that she tried engaging her colleagues and neighbours to keep a lookout for her and inform her should (Teo) appear near her workplace or block,” said Ms Lim.

“She was constantly worried about what (Teo) would possibly do to her and she described feeling horrified by his actions.”

The prosecutor described Teo as being “like an unwanted surveillance camera” to the victim, and sought three to four months’ jail for him.

The punishment for stalking is imprisonment for up to 12 months, a fine of up to S$5,000 (US$3,700) or both.