After breaking up with a partner of about a year and a half, the defendant attempted contact over the practical matters left to be settled. Real issues had piled up—electricity bills, a pet, parcel pickup—and over about eight months the defendant made a total of 23 phone calls. Some of these were made using a friend's phone number, and the Prosecution indicted him for violating the Stalking Punishment Act.

I focused on the fact that the defendant's contact related to the practical business of winding up their shared life and was not driven by lingering emotions or an intent to threaten. I also presented the fact that the victim had responded to some of the contact with a message saying 'take care and be well,' along with the exchanges about parcel pickup and scheduling. The court held that 'it is difficult to find that every contact caused fear' and acquitted the defendant. Lingering feelings alone must not become a crime. The risk of wrongful accusations exists even between former partners. Amid such injustice, I fight from the closest possible position.