A woman has admitted stalking an Aberdeen church minister – sending him daily letters and phoning him in the early hours.
Dawn Hakim, 58, bombarded a minister at St Margaret’s Episcopal Church at the Gallowgate with letters and calls over a period of two years, even after being warned by police to stop.
She was handed a non-harassment order when she appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
Hakim, of Colinton Mains Crescent, Edinburgh, previously pled guilty to engaging in a course of conduct which caused the minister fear or alarm by repeatedly contacting him by phone and sending unwanted communications.
She also admitted breaching bail conditions.
Depute fiscal Lynne MacVicar told the court: “The complainer is a minister at the locus and in Easter time 2017 he began to receive letters and postcards from an unknown female signing the documents off as ‘Dawn’.”
Ms MacVicar said between March 1 2017 and March 20 2019 the letters and postcards “became increasingly persistent”, as many as seven per week. The fiscal described the letters showing “a one-sided conversation” and “read as if the complainer had responded when in fact he did not”.
She added: “The contents suggest the complainer and accused are arranging to meet and the accused described her home and family along with general chat.
“In early 2018 the complainer began to receive telephone calls to his land line from the accused, receiving as many as seven phone calls per day.
“Some of these calls went into the early hours of the morning.
“As a result of that the complainer purchased a system to screen calls and blocked the accused’s number.
“It should be made clear none of the communications had been threatening nor had any been of a sexual nature.”
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Ms MacVicar said the correspondence “made him (the complainer) feel uncomfortable”, and said he was in favour of a non-harassment order being put in place.
Defence agent Michael Burnett said a psychological assessment had been carried out on his client.
He said: “She doesn’t accept that she’s delusional, but she’s adamant there was something between her and this man.
“The complainer was not afraid or alarmed.
“She was initially given advice by the police to desist.
“It’s when she carries on that they decide to take matters further.
“It’s when the conduct becomes more frequent and more repeated after the police told her to stop.”
Sheriff Graeme Napier imposed a three-year non-harassment order.
He told Hakim: “It’s probably in your interest to seek referral for a psychiatric assessment.”
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