A woman was arrested for stalking after persecuting a doctor and his family for five years, in Ituiutaba, a city in Triângulo Mineiro, in Minas Gerais. The 23-year-old had been on the run since March last year and was arrested on May 8, at a university in Uberlândia, where she was studying nutrition.
She was also accused of theft, threats and extortion. The case was publicized on Sunday (19) on Fantástico, on TV Globo. The defense denies committing crimes.
The suspect, identified as Kawara Welch, was the doctor's patient and, in 2019, began stalking him, claiming to be in love with him, according to the complaint. The young woman was excluded from the patient list by the doctor, but the persecution did not stop. As he resisted the harassment, she started making threats and started calling the professional's family members.
The doctor and his wife registered 42 police reports for disturbing the peace, bodily harm, threats and extortion.
To Fantástico, the doctor said that he had been approached by the young woman to treat depression, but she started trying for a relationship. When he refused, she sent messages in which she tied a rope around her neck and simulated hanging. Then she started threatening to send conversations they had to his wife. In one day, she sent 1,300 messages and made more than 500 cell phone calls.
The doctor reported that the young woman appeared at conferences he participated in in other cities and even chased him in traffic, which forced him to drive on the wrong side of the road to escape the chase.
On one of the occasions, the young woman invaded the doctor's office who was treating a patient and attacked his wife. The student also stole the doctor's wife's cell phone inside the clinic, which led the court to issue an arrest warrant for her. The young woman's defense managed to have her released with the imposition of precautionary measures, but the accused did not comply with the demands. A new arrest warrant was issued against her.
The court order was complied with by the Uberlândia Homicide Police Station. The young woman's cell phones were seized for forensic examination. She was taken to the women's wing of the Professor João Pimenta da Veiga Penitentiary, in Uberlândia.
Stalking is the practice of systematically persecuting a person, posting invasive comments on their social networks, making telephone calls in an insistent and uncomfortable manner. Following the person's routine by making inconvenient approaches can also be a form of stalking. The practice became considered a crime in March 2021, when it was included in the Penal Code. The penalty is six months to two years in prison and a fine.
To Fantástico, Kawara Welch's defense said that the doctor and his client had a relationship and that she only sought to maintain the relationship. The defense denied the crimes accused of the woman. The doctor's lawyer said that there was never a relationship between them and, even if there was, it would not justify the accused's conduct.
The report was unable to contact Kawara's lawyer. The space is open for the demonstration of defense.
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
