Horsham man convicted of stalking American travel influencer
A travel influencer has said she suffered nightmares following her harrowing ordeal when a West Sussex man travelled to Indonesia and threatened her with physical harm and rape.Alexandra Saper is an American who lives in Bali and posts regularly about travel on her Instagram account.The 33-year-old told the BBC: "This was the first time in my life I was scared all the time. I would wake up scared, I would fall asleep scared."I felt so disempowered, it just rattled my whole sense of identity."
Portsmouth Crown Court heard the stalker, Rob Keating, began contacting Ms Saper via Instagram in June 2022. On 14 May Keating, of Old Crawley Road, Faygate, Horsham, was found guilty of two stalking offences.The court heard the messages Keating sent were constant and so concerning in nature that Ms Saper blocked him on the platform.However, after the 39-year-old was blocked on Instagram, Keating contacted Ms Saper via her personal email address, despite never being given her details.Keating continued his campaign of harassment and sent screenshots of things she had posted on Instagram, demonstrating he had accessed her account from other secret accounts.The court heard over a six-month period, Ms Saper received hundreds of emails and 30 videos from Keating.
'Horrible and disgusting'
In December 2022, Ms Saper received an email from Keating where he threatened to kidnap her. He also sent links to videos he had made with more threats to kidnap and rape her. Keating also sent her a photo of a body in a suitcase, alongside videos of him threatening to do the same to her.Ms Saper said: "It was horrible, disgusting and extremely disturbing."The court heard Keating sent Ms Saper evidence he had obtained flight tickets and a visa to Indonesia.Keating then sent photos from locations in Bali she frequented and from locations near her address.
'Extreme lengths'
The court heard after Ms Saper's friends saw Keating in person near her home, she fled to a friend's address and contacted local police before leaving the country fearing for her safety."When he finally landed in Bali and confirmed he was there, it really hit me that this person was obviously willing to go to extreme lengths to carry out his threat," Ms Saper said.On 6 March 2023, Keating was arrested at Gatwick Airport on suspicion of stalking. However, more than a year later while he remained under investigation, he contacted Ms Saper again. The court heard he posted a video about her and screenshots of flights to Bali with the caption "Round Two" on his own Instagram account.Keating was further arrested on suspicion of stalking on 11 November 2024 and charged and remanded into custody the following day.He is due to be sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court on 25 July.
"The implications of what this has done to me over the last three years don't just go away just because someone's been convicted," Ms Saper said.She added it was "difficult for her to get an arrest and to have police call her back to get charges pressed"."Getting things to move in the right direction was so hard despite a mountain of evidence," she said.Ms Saper said she was speaking out because she felt "disempowered" for so long. "This was the only thing I could think of to take back ownership of the narrative after someone had decided for no reason to uproot my life," she added.
Det Insp Katt Green from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said as court proceedings were ongoing, the force could not discuss the investigation in detail."Our enquiries involved liaising with other forces and the logistics of engaging and supporting a victim who was abroad," she added."There was also a prolonged period during 2024 when all parties involved were outside of the UK. "Charges were made in November 2024, which have led to these proceedings."
David Naylor, area manager for Victim Support Kent, said stalking was "fixated and obsessive behaviour that is unwanted and repeated". "Some people underestimate the impact of stalking," he said. "It changes every aspect of the victim's life."Mr Naylor added stalking could be carried out by anyone and there was often a risk to an individual's safety."We are seeing increased reporting in stalking because there is better recognition of what stalking is," he said."With online stalking, we don't encourage people to block the stalker because they find ways to find you again."
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