A NSW woman tracked and bugged by her spurned ex-lover has described feeling like she was in a film during the ordeal.
The woman, who can’t be named for legal reasons, told the ABC the stalking infiltrated every part of her life.
“It felt like I was in a Netflix movie,” she said.
“I thought that I was one of the characters and we all know how it ends — the character either dies or the character prevails … thankfully, in my case, my character prevailed.
“There were endless sleepless nights, my mind churning with eternal possibilities, the what-ifs.
“What if I didn’t continue to push against the system, what if I continued to turn a blind eye to my stalker’s clandestine and heinous actions?”
For months, her stalker Daniel Ben Barnett tracked her car and bugged her home, south of Newcastle in New South Wales.
He was jailed for 16 months in June and is appealing the sentence.
“It’s absolutely terrifying to me because … when you are being stalked, you think you’re going crazy,” she said.
Stalking hotspots in Hunter region
NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) data shows there has been a big spike in the use of bugs and trackers in the state over the past two years.
BOCSAR executive director Jackie Fitzgerald said the rise could not be underestimated.
“Up to 2021, we saw a doubling in [stalking] in the 10 years leading up to that date,” she said.
“Coming out of the pandemic, really we’re seeing a sharp escalation and so figures … are really as high as they’ve ever been for stalking and intimidation.”
Between April 2021 and March 2023, the state average for recorded intimidation, stalking and harassment offences was up 6.6 per cent, but in many regional areas the jump was much more.
Hotspots with rises of 30 per cent or more included Maitland, Port Stephens, and the Queanbeyan-Palerang local government area.
There was also an 18 per cent rise in Wollongong and a similar spike on the Central Coast.
Ms Fitzgerald said when the data was scrutinised, it was clear technology-assisted stalking had played a role in the upward trend.
“When we delve into the figures, we’re really seeing that phones are very commonly used and computers and electronic devices are much more commonly associated with stalking and intimidation incidents these days,” she said.
“Another factor to keep in mind is that we are also seeing … a level of awareness of this type of offence that we hadn’t previously seen.
“And certainly, the police are more likely to consider stalking and intimidation as a precursor to more serious violence.”
Technology ‘used as a weapon’
Victims of Crime Assistance League (VOCAL) practice lead Sophie Wheeler said the spike in technology-facilitated stalking was a big concern.”This is something that is a really serious area in terms of … the far-reaching tools of intimidation and harassment and how perpetrators can use technology to stalk and intimidate,” she said.
