British ‘stalker' followed US travel influencer to Bali
Alexandra Saper, an American influencer, claimed Rob Keating followed her to Bali, a court heard
A British 'stalker' followed an American travel influencer to Bali with a rope in his suitcase, a court has heard.
Rob Keating is alleged to have booked a one-way ticket to the Indonesian island after almost a year of harassing Alexandra Saper, an Instagram blogger, with emails and video messages.
'You're never getting rid of me,' he messaged Ms Saper on arrival before visiting bars and cafés near her island home, Portsmouth Crown Court was told.
Ms Saper, 33, a former lawyer who now earns a living from her Instagram page, The Wayfaress, which has more than 100,000 followers, told the jury that she was forced to flee the country in fear.
Mr Keating, a traffic worker living in his sister's garage in Havant, Hants, at the time, was arrested when he returned to the UK with 'black rope' in his suitcase, the court heard.
He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of stalking involving serious alarm or distress.
Alexandra Saper loves to travel across the world
Ms Saper shares her adventures on Instagram
Opening the case, Alexandra Bull, prosecuting, told the court: 'Mr Keating is now 39 years old, between 2022 and 2023 he was living in his sister's garage... and working in a traffic job and he, too, frequently posted on social media and YouTube.'
He started following Ms Saper on Instagram in 2022 and sent her a 'weird and creepy' message, to which she replied 'Dude, why are you following me if you don't like my content', the court heard.
Ms Saper blocked Mr Keating, but he 'then found her business email connected to her website,' the prosecutor said.
The contact is said to have become 'incessant and constant' and grew more 'intense' and 'sexual in nature' later into 2022.
In September, Mr Keating 'described having sex with her to some length' in a video of himself talking to the camera, the court heard.
'He was speaking to her as though they were in a relationship, like he was in love with her and she with him,' Ms Bull said. One email included a threat to abduct her, she added.
The Instagram travel influencer has more than 100,000 followers
Ms Saper post scenes of her visits on her Instagram page, The Wayfaress
Ms Saper said in a video interview played to the court: 'He sent me a photo of a body in a suitcase and said he was going to kidnap me.'
She added that he said he knew she was 5ft 2in, which meant she would 'fit inside the suitcase'.
Ms Bull told the court he also sent Ms Saper a picture of a one-way ticket to Bali and said 'flights booked baby girl' along with around 30 videos of himself talking to the camera.
Ms Saper saw from posts on his Instagram page that he visited a bar she regularly went to with her friends, and went to cafés just 50 metres from her house, the court heard.
In her video evidence, she said he thought she was sending him secret messages through her Instagram posts.
She said: 'His interpretation of these posts was that they were secret coded messages about my love for him, or me asking him to come to Bali because I wanted to see him.
'He was convinced that I had asked him to come to Bali.'
She said she was forced to travel to Laos, south-east Asia, so that they were no longer in the same country.
She also stopped posting on Instagram, had to cancel work projects, stopped leaving the house, and became 'depressed' because of Mr Keating's alleged actions, the court heard.
The influencer reported him to the police in Bali, and spoke to the US and the UK embassies in the country.
Following his arrest in March 2023, Mr Keating told police in an interview that he was not sexually attracted to Ms Saper, but said that 'she had shown an interest in him and there could be something there'.
He continued to stalk Ms Saper between September and November 2024, at which point he lived in Horsham in West Sussex, the court was told.
Mr Keating posted a picture of a plane ticket from London to Bali with the caption 'round 2' on his Instagram in November, it was heard. He was subsequently arrested again.
The trial continues.
Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Marines arrive in LA under Trump orders as protests spread to other cities
By Brad Brooks, Jorge Garcia, Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Hundreds of U.S. Marines arrived in Los Angeles overnight and more were expected on Tuesday under orders from President Donald Trump, who has also activated 4,000 National Guard troops to quell protests despite objections from California Governor Gavin Newsom and other local leaders. The city has seen days of public outrage since the Trump administration launched a series of immigration raids on Friday, though local officials said the demonstrations on Monday were largely peaceful. About half of the roughly 700 Marines that Trump ordered to Los Angeles arrived on Monday night, and the remaining troops will enter the city on Tuesday, a U.S. official told Reuters. The U.S. military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told KABC that more than 100 people had been arrested on Monday but that the majority of protesters were nonviolent. Over the weekend, protesters threw rocks and other objects at officers and vehicles and set several cars ablaze. Police responded by firing projectiles like pepper balls as well as flash bang grenades and tear gas. Trump has justified his decision to deploy active military troops to Los Angeles by describing the protests as a violent occupation of the city, a characterization that Newsom and Bass have said is grossly exaggerated. Newsom said that Trump's deployment of National Guard troops has only inflamed the situation and made it more difficult for local law enforcement to respond to the demonstrations. In a statement on Monday, Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said the department had not been notified that any Marines were traveling to the city and that their possible arrival "presents a significant logistical and operational challenge" for police. Trump's decision to mobilize 700 Marines based in Southern California escalated his confrontation with Newsom, who filed a lawsuit on Monday asserting that Trump's deployment of Guard troops without the governor's consent was illegal. The Guard deployment was the first time in decades that a president activated the Guard absent a request from a sitting governor. While the Marines are only tasked with guarding federal property temporarily until the full contingent of 4,000 Guard troops arrives, the use of active military to respond to civil disturbances is extremely rare. "This isn't about public safety," Newsom wrote on X on Monday. "It's about stroking a dangerous President's ego." The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Jack Reed, said he was "gravely troubled" by Trump's deployment of active-duty Marines. "Since our nation's founding, the American people have been perfectly clear: we do not want the military conducting law enforcement on U.S. soil," he said. In a post on Tuesday morning on Truth Social, Trump claimed Los Angeles would be "burning to the ground right now" if he had not deployed troops to the city. DEMONSTRATIONS AND ARRESTS The raids are part of Trump's sweeping immigration crackdown, which Democrats and immigrant advocates have said are indiscriminately breaking up families. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pledged on Monday to carry out more operations to round up suspected immigration violators. Trump officials have branded the protests as lawless and blamed state and local Democrats for protecting undocumented immigrants with sanctuary cities. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered on Monday outside a federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles where immigrants have been held, chanting "free them all" and waving Mexican and Central American flags. National Guard forces formed a human barricade to keep people out of the building, and late on Monday, police began dispersing the crowd using gas canisters and arrested some protesters. At dusk, officers had running confrontations with protesters who had scattered into the Little Tokyo section of the city. As people watched from apartment patios above street level and as tourists huddled inside hotels, a large contingent of LAPD and officers and sheriff's deputies fired several flash bangs that boomed through side streets along with tear gas. Protests spread to neighboring Orange County on Monday night after immigration raids there, with demonstrators gathering at the Santa Ana Federal building, according to local officials and news reports. Protests also sprang up in at least nine other U.S. cities on Monday, including New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco, according to local news reports. In Austin, Texas, police fired non-lethal munitions and detained several people as they clashed with a crowd of several hundred protesters.
USA Today
27 minutes ago
- USA Today
Multiple journalists injured by police nonlethal rounds while covering LA protests
Multiple journalists injured by police nonlethal rounds while covering LA protests Show Caption Hide Caption Australian journalist shot with a rubber bullet in Los Angeles Australian journalist from 9News, Lauren Tomasi, was shot with a rubber bullet while reporting from the protests in Los Angeles. Multiple members of the media have been injured by nonlethal rounds fired by law enforcement while covering dayslong protests over the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in Los Angeles, prompting the Committee to Protect Journalists to sound an alarm about the intimidation of reporters. Authorities braced for a fifth day of demonstrations on June 10, with President Donald Trump ordering the National Guard and members of the U.S. Marine Corps in a show of force against unrest. The administration's stepping in has also ignited a clash between local leaders, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and the federal government. As officers use force against protesters, some journalists reporting on the melee have been caught by nonlethal rubber rounds and other projectiles. Adam Rose, the secretary of the Los Angeles Press Club, has documented more than 30 incidents of reporters, photographers and other media professionals impacted by police actions that range from searching a journalist's bag to firing tear gas or rubber bullets at them. In one viral video, an officer appears to aim and take fire at Australian reporter Lauren Tomasi, who yelped in pain when she was hit in the leg. More: Australian journalist shot with nonlethal bullet while reporting on LA protests The committee, which advocates for press freedom and documents cases of journalists who are killed, imprisoned or missing, said it was "greatly concerned" by the reports of officers' shooting nonlethal rounds at reporters on the ground. "Any attempt to discourage or silence media coverage by intimidating or injuring journalists should not be tolerated,' Katherine Jacobsen, program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean, said in a statement. 'It is incumbent upon authorities to respect the media's role of documenting issues of public interest.' The Los Angeles Police Department and the California Highway Patrol didn't immediately respond to a USA TODAY inquiry on the injured journalists. The department told the Committee to Protect Journalists it will investigate the incidents. LA protest updates: Newsom calls Trump's Marine deployment a 'blatant abuse of power' Journalists injured by rubber bullets, other nonlethal rounds Tomasi, the Australian reporter, was sore after being hit by the rubber bullet but otherwise unharmed, her employer Australia's 9News said. British freelance photographer Nick Stern had to undergo emergency surgery after also being hit in the leg with a nonlethal round, he told the BBC. Stern said he was covering the protests in Los Angeles on June 8 when he was hit by a 3-inch "plastic bullet," BBC reported. He said he was wearing his press credentials and wearing a big camera around his neck. "There was something hard sticking out of the back of my leg and my leg was getting wet from blood," he told the outlet. Stern told BBC protesters helped carry him away from the "danger area" and a medic applied a tourniquet. "I intend, as soon as I am well enough, to get back out there," he told BBC. "This is too important and it needs documenting." A New York Post photographer was also hit with a rubber bullet in the head, the outlet reported. Toby Canham was standing just off the 101 freeway in Los Angeles the evening of June 8 "when a California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer suddenly turned his weapon toward him and fired from about 100 yards away," the Post reported. He went to the hospital for whiplash and neck pain and had a bruise on his forehead. 'It's a real shame. I completely understand being in the position where you could get injured, but at the same time, there was no justification for even aiming the rifle at me and pulling the trigger, so I'm a bit pissed off about that, to be honest,' Canham said. Officers also shot Ryanne Mena, a reporter with the Southern California News Group, with pepper ball bullets, which contain a chemical akin to pepper spray, she said in a post on social media. Police briefly detained CNN correspondent Jason Carroll while he was on the air covering protests on June 9. In-studio anchors briefly lost contact with Carroll, who could be seen being led away by LAPD officers with hands behind his back. An officer can be heard telling Carroll: "We're letting you go. You can't come back. If you come back, you will be arrested." "You take a lot of risks as press. This is low on that scale of risks, but it is something that I wasn't expecting, simply because we've been out here all day," Carroll said. "I've covered any number of protests, and normally the officers realize that the press is there doing a job." What's happening in LA protests Protests began on June 6 in response to the Trump administration's crackdown with immigration raids in Southern California. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is carrying out a directive from Trump to find immigrants living in the United States without legal status. Protests have sprung up against the sweeps the agency is carrying out in various neighborhoods. The protests began largely peacefully after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweeps near Los Angeles resulted in more than 40 arrests, but flared up when heavily armed, masked agents raided Los Angeles businesses. For several days, the demonstrations have grown and turned chaotic and sometimes violent, with police and protesters clashing in the streets. A tense standoff unfolded between the administration and California authorities, who say the use of the National Guard and U.S. Marines is an unlawful subversion of Newsom's authority. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called Trump's escalation of military presence a "deliberate attempt to create disorder and chaos in our city." On Monday, LAPD said protesters threw objects at officers near the federal courthouse, prompting use of gas canisters and other munitions. Bass said over 100 people were arrested Monday night, blaming "fringe groups" for violence. Contributing: Thao Nguyen, John Bacon, Greta Cross and Taijuan Moorman, USA TODAY
New York Post
28 minutes ago
- New York Post
Fetterman rips ‘anarchy and true chaos' in LA, warns Dems not to cede ‘moral high ground'
Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman has denounced the riots in Los Angeles and warned his party about the pitfalls of failing to adequately condemn the 'anarchy and true chaos. 'I unapologetically stand for free speech, peaceful demonstrations, and immigration—but this is not that,' Fetterman (D-Pa.) wrote on X on Monday evening. 'This is anarchy and true chaos. My party loses the moral high ground when we refuse to condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings, and assaulting law enforcement.' Advertisement The Keystone State Dem included a photo of cars being scorched in a fiery blaze with a shirtless masked man waving a Mexican flag in the background. 3 President Trump has deployed several thousand National Guard troops to Los Angeles to try to help quell the violent protests over his illegal-immigration crackdown. Toby Canham for NY Post Advertisement 3 Sen. John Fetterman, a Dem from Pennsylvania, isn't mincing words about his condemnation of the riots in Los Angeles. Getty Images Around the time of his post, Fetterman was spotted at Butterworth's, a top MAGA hangout in Washington, DC — dining with Trump ally Steve Bannon and Breitbart's Matt Boyle, Politico Playbook reported. Tech mogul Elon Musk commended Fetterman's condemnation of the 'anarchy and true chaos' unfolding in LA, replying with an American flag emoji. Fetterman's post came amid a feud between President Trump and top California Democrats over the prez's decision to federalize the California National Guard and bring in troops to tame the unrest in Los Angeles. Advertisement Protesters had flooded the streets in droves Friday to demonstrate against the Trump administration's immigration enforcement efforts in the city. The ICE agents' targets have included a Home Depot in Paramount. 3 Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has stressed that the violent destructive rioting has largely been limited to downtown. Toby Canham for NY Post By Saturday, some of the demonstrations devolved into violent clashes with federal authorities in Compton and Paramount. The Trump administration mobilized another 2,000 troops to respond to the mayhem, after previously ordering an initial 2,000 troops to the region over the weekend. Trump's secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, said Monday he also was deploying 700 Marines to the area to help try to contain the chaos. Advertisement Top leadership in California, including Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass — both Democrats — slammed the GOP White House for the troop mobilization and pleaded with the public not to turn to violence to protest Trump's immigration policies. Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta, also a Dem, filed a lawsuit Monday against the Trump administration seeking to void the president's memo to federalize the state's National Guard. Fetterman hasn't been afraid to punch the left in his own party, particularly when it comes to Israel. Near the end of the Biden administration, he had also favored measures to strengthen border security.
