SINGAPORE — A 30-year-old man with a long history of harassment offences was on Monday (March 11) sentenced to 41 weeks’ jail for stalking his former counsellor and hurling insulting phrases at a preschool teacher.

Muhammad Fathurrahman Mohd Adzlan used the PayNow platform to apologise to the first victim, transferring sums of between S$0.01 and S$50.

The Singaporean pleaded guilty to one charge each of unlawful stalking and intentionally causing harassment, alarm or distress. His victims cannot be named due to gag orders to protect their identities.

He was most recently jailed for six months in 2022 for providing false information to the police that his aunt was making a bomb.

According to a psychiatric report from the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), he was not having a relapse of his earlier diagnosed mental disorders during his latest offences. He was cognisant of the nature and wrongfulness of his actions.

SENT MESSAGES TO VICTIM, HER COLLEAGUES

The court heard that Fathurrahman attended counselling sessions held by the first victim back in 2012.

In July last year, he dreamt she was crying and he apologised to her. Having never had such a dream before, he felt it was a “signal” and decided to contact her.

He was also attracted to her, felt she was a very nice person and wanted to get to know her better. He was aware that she was married when they met in 2012 but he wanted to confirm whether this was still the case.

However, he was still angry with her over a separate matter and decided to tell her that he wanted to send officers from the Internal Security Department to her house, the court further heard.

He began stalking her on July 18, 2023, by sending her a text message to this effect. He also called her and sent more WhatsApp text messages, which led to her blocking him.

He turned to messaging her on Facebook before using a different phone number to contact her.

When she blocked this number, he persistently emailed her, sent WhatsApp messages and videos to her employer, and left comments on Instagram. He also mailed a letter with his passport photograph to the victim’s workplace.

He transferred S$50 to her via PayNow on Aug 4, stating his name and saying he was sorry. He repeated this on Aug 18 and 20, transferring S$0.20 and S$0.01 respectively.

She transferred the money back to him.

Due to his acts, the victim felt unsafe leaving her house and experienced anxiety when travelling to and from her workplace. She was afraid he would show up there and potentially cause physical harm to her.

Fathurrahman eventually stopped trying to communicate with her when she told him she had lodged a police report against him for harassment, and after he realised she was still married.

HARASSED AT PRESCHOOL

Separately, on Jan 9, Fathurrahman’s second victim had reported for work as a teacher at a Pasir Ris preschool when she noticed he was looking into the school through a window.

He was looking at the children and smiling at them. She had seen him loitering near the school multiple times before and sitting at a nearby park looking at the children.

He regularly went to the preschool because he liked watching children, the court heard.

When the teacher told him he was scaring the children, he grew offended and asked loudly if she was a Malay-Muslim.

The woman, who wore a tudung, nodded in response.

He later returned and told her: “You terrorist, why work here? I complain about you.”

Shortly afterwards, he also sent WhatsApp messages to the preschool’s enquiry contact number, threatening to report the matter to the government. One message read: “Childrens ah blessings”.

The teacher lodged a police report the next day. Fathurrahman was arrested at Downtown East mall on Jan 19.

PSYCHIATRIC FINDINGS

He was then remanded at IMH for about two weeks and thrice examined by Dr Stephen Phang.

According to the psychiatrist’s report, he was assessed to have an antisocial personality disorder as well as obsessive compulsive disorder in 2014. He was also found to have had a brief psychotic disorder in 2021.

Dr Phang found that his behaviour in his latest offences was “motivated primarily by his fundamentally antisocial personality construct or disorder”.

This resulted in “seriously irresponsible behaviour, a disregard for societal norms, rules and regulations, and a failure to profit from past experience and effect behavioural change for the better”.

Dr Phang noted that in “simple layman parlance”, Fathurrahman “is… a psychopath, albeit a fairly simple-minded one, and is likely to continue to reoffend in the foreseeable future”.

ASKED FOR FINE

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ng Jun Chong sought a sentence of 41 to 47 weeks’ jail. He told the court that Fathurrahman had similar antecedents and posed a clear risk of reoffending.

Fathurrahman’s criminal records date back to 2018 when he was jailed one week for harassment offences. In 2022, he breached a 12-month mandatory treatment order and was re-sentenced to jail time.

Mandatory treatment is a community sentencing option offered to offenders suffering from mental conditions that contributed to the offence. 

During Monday’s court hearing, Fathurrahman — who appeared via a video-link — repeatedly and breathlessly interrupted proceedings with observations and allegations.

This led District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan to tell him to listen to the facts and, at one point, to “try to use the full stop”.

Fathurrahman also asked for a fine instead, including after he was sentenced. When the judge told him to give his mitigation plea, he went into a spiel about wine and beer.

Those convicted of unlawful stalking can be fined up to S$5,000 or jailed up to six months, or both. Those convicted of causing harassment, alarm or distress can be fined up to S$5,000 or jailed up to a year, or both.

Fathurrahman could have received double each penalty due to his repeat convictions. CNA