BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – HARASSING phone calls can be annoying and at times frightening. Some persons engage in such activity not knowing the serious repercussions it can cause.
Not only is it a crime incurring a fine or confinement as the result but it can also cause damaging effects on the affected individual.
Miriam said that she was constantly harassed by a male individual who called her telephone every couple of hours of the day to try and keep up conversations with her.
“At first I talked to the person but after a while it seemed that this is something the person enjoyed doing, calling my phone to keep up conversation and I have no idea who he was.
“This went on for months and I wondered how sick can a person be for doing this. They would call at 6:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m. and even 10:00 p.m.! Finally I went to the phone company but they told me I had to go to the police first,” she said.
Miriam said she felt scared and thought the person was constantly looking at her or stalking her but she was unaware of who they were.
David Lake, General Manager of LIME said that any customer receiving harassing phone calls should report the matter to the police first.
“We will get involved once the police determine that there is a predicament and will pursue the matter. The police will then obtain a court order and present it to us. We don’t provide any information directly to the customer.
We have gotten a lot of calls about this and we always advise them of the process,” he said.
Digicel’s Customer Care Manager, Kenneth Bobb said that customers should report the matter police who will then obtain a court order to present to them.
“Then we’ll be able to submit this court order to our legal department locally; those phone records actually come out of Jamaica, so our legal department here will communicate with our office in Jamaica,” he said.
SKNVibes spoke with Inspector Lyndon David of the St. Christopher and Nevis Royal Police Force who said that persons found guilty of making such calls of unwanted or harassing phone calls can be sentenced with a fine or imprisonment.
“If you have received calls where you have told the individual you’re not interested, and not to call back and they do, it becomes harassment. You can make a report and then the police will start an investigation into the matter.
“Once the evidence shows harassment or intimidation is committed and once the police is satisfied that the person who owns that number was the person who used or know who used it, then charges can be brought,” he said.
He said that charges could depend on what the caller told the victim during the phone conversation, and can range from harassment to threatening language or extortion.
“Based on the offense the investigations have revealed, they will be charged… we let the person being harassed make the report; they might say they don’t want to continue with the charges after using so many resources to find out who it is but it is best they continue.”
“We’ve had a number of those cases where some would have reached to the court while some ended with warnings.
Inspector David advised that people should utilize the phones for the specific reasons for which they were made.
“Do unto others as you’d like others to do to you. Could be a man who sees a woman and love her and pursues her but may be rejected, and then he wouldn’t stop because it has now moved from attraction to harassment and there are women who do it to men as well,” Inspector David said.
“If you don’t want it done to your mother or sister or anyone else close to you don’t do it to anyone,” he concluded.
