Convicted stalker argued his behaviour was just a ‘cultural misunderstanding’, court hears

A 39-year-old Cairns man who sent 319 unanswered text messages and followed the woman in his car, came to believe he and the woman were going to get married.

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A 39-year-old Cairns man has told a court the conduct that led to his stalking charge was a “case of cultural misunderstanding” in his quest to avoid conviction and possible deportation back to India.

His lawyer told Cairns Magistrates Court that he “did not understand” that the female victim, a former work colleague, was not interested because she did not “expressly say no” in the same way a woman from his home country would and came to believe he would eventually marry the woman.

Harjeet Singh was born in India and came to Australia in 2018. He moved to Cairns in June 2022.

Mr Singh sent the Coomera woman 339 text messages between August 2021 and July 2023; the victim responded just 20 times.

He also followed her four times in his car and googled her name 77 times over six months.

Cairns crime police generic Picture: file photo

His lawyer told the court that her client did not understand that if “somebody ignores you, it means they are not interested”.

She said the victim, who eventually contacted the police after he sent her a message telling her he wanted to move back to the Gold Coast, “never asked him to stop messaging her”.

Mr Singh even shared Facebook photos of the woman to his family, telling them he had found the woman he would marry.

The court heard his family, whom he solely supports from his income in Australia, “approved of the marriage”.

“Marriage is a big deal in India; it is everything; he believed he had found the one,” his lawyer said.

However, Magistrate Michael Dalton said he found the defendant’s behaviour “strange” and “creepy.”

He completely rejected the man’s cultural difference argument,

“Common sense would dictate even in your country that following a woman in a car constitutes more than a misunderstanding, it was part of a pattern of behaviour that was an unhealthy obsession,” Mr Dalton said.

“There is not one scrap of evidence to show she indicated she was interested. She was scared. You scared this woman”.

Mr Singh, whose current workers visa is about to expire, was found guilty of one charge of stalking and given a three-month suspended jail sentence.

He was ordered never to contact the woman again and a conviction was recorded.

Originally published as Convicted stalker argued his behaviour was just a ‘cultural misunderstanding’, court hears