The training leader Daniela was followed by a stalker

About a hundred people are sentenced each year for unlawful persecution, or stalking.
Training manager Daniela Peppels is one of those who have been exposed.
– The person stood outside my home basically every day, she says in Efter fem.

Training leader Daniela Peppels was stalked by a man who visited her training sessions at the gym. The man, who quickly became a frequent attendee of Daniela’s sessions, soon began to linger behind and came to the sessions early to talk to Daniela. The conversations, which at first felt innocent, soon began to be experienced as unpleasant. And one day the man crossed a line when he grabbed Daniela and embraced her without her consent. After that, the situation escalated, she says in Efter fem.

-The person stood outside my home basically every day, I got text messages sent to me, he wrote a letter suggesting that I break up with my then-partner because he thought we should get married… so it went very quickly from there innocent conversation to simply feeling stalked.

In the weeks that followed, the man contacted Daniela about fifty times, despite requests not to.

– My life became very limited. Every single day I felt the need to look over my shoulder to see if he was standing outside my gate. It was a very unpleasant and scary feeling. I became very worried about my daughter who was living at home at the time.

Got help from security company

Daniela describes how she became increasingly affected by the situation. Finally, she decided to tell her boss. Thanks to the association’s close collaboration with a private security company, Daniela was quickly able to meet a security consultant and a police report was drawn up.

– I had no idea that I could get that help. It resulted in this person who had been stalking me getting a restraining order.

The government appoints an investigation

In recent years, around 100 people each year have been sentenced for unlawful persecution. But the number of people in the dark is large – and the protection for those who are exposed needs to be strengthened, says Gender Equality Minister Paulina Brandberg (L). The government has now appointed an inquiry into how to tighten the legislation.

– I think we have to see if there are shortcomings in our legislation when it comes to punishing those who commit this type of crime. But we also have to make sure that we have mechanisms that provide support and protection to the people who are exposed to this, says Brandberg and elaborates:

– We want more contact bans that are combined with electronic foot shackles, and we also want contact bans to be able to cover larger geographical areas than they do today so that it will simply be the perpetrator who is allowed to move and not the crime victim.