A man who mounted a 12-month stalking campaign against his ex-boyfriend and the man’s fiancée and drove a car at them as they jogged was jailed for more than two years on Friday.
Theodore O’Neil Morgan was sentenced to 28 months behind bars for a year-long campaign of harassment and abuse.
Justice Cheryll Richards told the court that the stalking offence was at the top end of the three-point scale.
She added the charge of committing a reckless and negligent act when he drove his Mercedes-Benz at the couple when they were out for a run was also regarded as serious.
Richards highlighted that Morgan had pleaded not guilty, which forced his victim and his girlfriend to give evidence in court.
She said, “This was an ordeal for him. Not only did he have to relive the experience, he was subjected to intense examination on his most personal, private activities.”
Richards added that the ex-boyfriend continued to be afraid to leave his house and has had to make “major changes” to his life, including moving from his earlier home, because of the relentless stalking carried out by Morgan.
She said, “In the court’s view, this is a case of the maximum level.”
Richards added an “aggravating factor” was that Morgan had sent pictures and messages to employers, friends and relatives of the couple and highlighted that the defendant’s actions had “affected other people” as well as the victims.
Morgan denied both charges, but was convicted on the unanimous verdict of a seven-member jury in November last year.
The panel of six women and one man agreed with the Crown case after a 10-day trial that the defendant had often driven past his former boyfriend’s home, had urinated on his car, let himself into his ex’s property with a stolen key, and peeped through his windows.
Crown prosecutor Angelique McLoughlin told the jury that Morgan’s “relentless” harassment between 1 April 2022 and 1 April 2023 had left his ex “in great fear, not only for his personal safety, but also for the safety of his companion”.
The two victims, who both gave evidence, told the jury that Morgan had driven his car at them as they took their usual early-morning run along the Esterley Tibbetts Highway on 23 May 2023.
They testified that Morgan had swerved towards them in his car and they were forced to jump out of the way to avoid being hit.
The victim’s fiancée, who admitted she had not met Morgan but had seen him at bars and was familiar with his Facebook and Instagram pages, said she had recognised him as the driver of the car.
But Morgan denied being behind the wheel that day, and insisted his car had been driven by another man, whom he named.
McLoughlin, however, told the jury that police had been unable to find the man and there was no record of him being in Cayman.
Richards said, “The court has considered whether the proposed sentences are proportionate and decided they were.”
She added the offending was “serious” and had caused “serious harm” to the victims.
Richards sentenced Morgan to 13 months in prison for driving his car at the couple, but ordered it to run concurrently with the stalking term.
She added that Morgan was entitled to a 94-day discount on his sentence for the time he had spent on bail with an electronic tag and a curfew, and that time spent in custody should also be taken into account.
McLoughlin also asked for a third charge – using threatening and abusive words or behaviour that would cause the victims to believe that violence would be used against them – to be put to Morgan.
Morgan admitted the charge, which was related to driving his car at the couple, and Richards did not add another sentence.
But she also imposed a protection order to ensure the defendant kept away from the couple after his release from jail.
Richards told Morgan, “You are not to contact them directly or indirectly or to go within 50 yards of him or his fiancée.”
She warned him, “Should there be any breach of the protection order, powers of arrest are attached.”
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