October 29,2018:
On Friday, an Indian-Origin man who waged a long campaign of harassment and intimidation against a woman in London has been sentenced to six years.
Sirtaj Bhangal, 35, was jailed at Isleworth Crown Court in London after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence; two counts of witness intimidation and breach of a restraining order.
Detective Constable Nicola Kerry from the Metropolitan Police West Area Command Unit stated that,“Sirtaj Bhangal launched an unprovoked, sustained campaign of intimidation against his victim which covered a period of five years, including a time when he was on remand in prison”.
He further added that,“The motive for this remains unclear and makes the intensity of his harassment all the more terrifying. I would like to praise the victim and her family for supporting this investigation and I can only hope that Bhangal’s imprisonment can offer them some small form of comfort”.
Bhangal’s campaign against unnamed victim started in 2013 when he began to contact her via social media despite the fact the pair had not met. The tone of Bhangal’s messages were demeaning and victim blocked him from her accounts.
Over the course of next three years, Bhangal sporadically contacted victim but this intensified in 2016 when he sent her a nine-page letter intimating he would be upset if she ignored it.
Over the next year, one-sided contact intensified through the phone calls and texts and culminated with Bhangal approaching victim and then hand-delivering another letter to the victim’s address in May 2017.
Victim then reported matter to police and Bhangal was arrested and charged. He was subsequently convicted of harassment and stalking.
While on remand awaiting trial, Bhangal used an illegal mobile phone in prison to call victim and threaten her with violence. Bhangal was subsequently charged with witness intimidation and a trial was set for July this year.
On July 3, victim found an 80-page letter at her home address; contents were extremely disturbing and again threatened victim and her family with extreme violence including having acid thrown at them.
Letter also contained images of people who had been injured with corrosive substances alongside images of the victim taken from social media.
Search of Bhangal’s address was undertaken and items including imitation firearms, imitation grenades, Samurai swords and packaging from acidic substances were recovered.
Thus, Bhangal was further charged with the firearm offence and a second count of witness intimidation.
Source HT
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