Court hears claims influencer was used as ‘bait' to catch stalker in Bali
An American travel influencer living in Bali has claimed she felt 'hunted like prey' and was used by local police as 'bait' to trap a British stalker, who arrived on the popular Indonesian island after forming an infatuation with her.
An English court has heard how British man, Rob Keating, allegedly sent 'incessant and constant' emails and video messages to popular travel influencer Alexandra Saper, 33, for a year. It is also alleged Ms Saper received continuous harassment by Mr Keating in the months before he flew to Bali from the UK in January 2023.
Jurors during the court hearing at Portsmouth crown court heard the 39-year-old man booked a one-way ticket to Bali, telling Ms Saper: 'Flights booked baby girl'. He then allegedly told the influencer 'you're never getting rid of me' after landing, as reported by The Sun.
The man, who allegedly travelled with rope in his luggage, called Ms Saper his 'queen' and warned her that he was practising his disguises and that 'I will see you when you agree to meet me, or I have a suitcase for you to fit in.', the court heard.
Ms Saper, a former lawyer turned influencer who now earns a living from her 100,000-follower page called 'The Wayfaress', told the jury that she was forced to flee Bali in fear of Mr Keating finding her and went to Laos to distance herself.
'He sent me a photo of a body in a suitcase and said he was going to kidnap me,' she claimed of the mountains of emails she would receive.
'I blocked him on everything and never responded, so that was a pretty clear indication of not wanting contact.
'I was aware that he was talking about coming to Bali, but I didn't think it would actually happen.'
Ms Saper said that when Mr Keating arrived in Bali, she informed local police of the situation and booked herself into a hotel. The Times reported local authorities forced her to act as 'bait' to meet him in public.
According to the publication, Ms Saper sent Mr Keating an email — which a friend wrote from her account — saying that while she did not want contact, she would meet in a public place.
Ms Saper claims the 'bait' email was a desperate bid to get police to help, but claims that they ultimately did nothing to assist and she instead fled to Laos so that she was no longer in the same country as Mr Keating.
The travel influencer said she saw pictures on Mr Keating's Instagram page that showed he had visited one of her regular bars in Bali, and that he also went to a cafe just 50 metres from her house.
Along with informing local police, Ms Saper said she spoke to the US and the UK embassies in the country. Mr Keating was arrested on his arrival back to the UK in March 2023 where police found 'black rope' in his suitcase, the court heard.
Prosecutor Alexandra Bull said Mr Keating first got in touch with Ms Saper in 2022 by sending her a 'weird and creepy' message on Instagram.
She replied, asking, 'Dude, why are you following me if you don't like my content' before blocking him.
But Mr Keating, who was living in his sister's garage at the time, found her business email and began bombarding her, jurors heard.
The messages turned 'intense' and 'sexual in nature' later in 2022, it was said.
In September that year, Mr Keating described having sex with Ms Saper 'to some length' in a video of himself talking to the camera.
'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 added.
In one email, Mr Keating allegedly said he loved her and would do 'whatever it takes' to be together.
'If that involves kidnapping then so be it,' he allegedly added.
In January 2023, Mr Keating said he would quit his traffic job and 'come and find her' in Bali.
At this point, he had sent her around 30 videos of himself talking to the camera alongside 'hundreds' of emails, jurors heard.
In her video evidence, Ms Saper said he thought she was sending him secret messages through her Instagram posts.
'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,' she added.
'He was convinced that I had asked him to come to Bali.'
As a result, Ms Saper said she stopped posting on Instagram and had to cancel work projects.
She also told the court she became 'depressed' and stopped leaving the house because of Mr Keating's actions.
In his police interview, Mr Keating claimed he was not sexually attracted to the influencer but accused her of showing an 'interest' in him.
He allegedly continued the stalking campaign between September and November 2024 and posted a picture of a plane ticket from London to Bali with the caption 'round 2' on his Instagram.
The trial is still underway, and Mr Keating denies two counts of stalking involving serious alarm or distress.
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