An unrepentant stalker is now wanted by police after he failed to appear in court to be sentenced.
Sean Monaghan, 30, was convicted of stalking his female neighbour following a trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court in May this year.
It was stated that Monaghan terrified the 24-year-old woman by following her down the street, appearing at her front door under false pretenses and by trying to connect with her on numerous social media sites.
During the trial, the woman said she’d caught Monaghan looking into her bedroom from his own adjacent flat window more than 20 times – making her feel “unsafe in her own home”.
As he was due to be sentenced, Monaghan – who had earlier refused to take part in background reports required by the court – failed to appear in the dock.
Following this, Sheriff Lesley Johnston immediately issued a warrant for Monaghan’s arrest.
His victim appeared emotional as she left the court without seeing justice done.
Monaghan, of Ashvale Place, Aberdeen, will appear in court at a later date following his arrest by police.
Stalker went to victim’s door
During the trial, the woman told fiscal depute Eilidh Gunn that she became aware of Monaghan when he introduced himself to her in the street.
He then appeared at her front door inquiring if a parcel intended for him had been delivered to her home by mistake, despite them living in separate buildings.
Suspicious, the woman watched Monaghan as he left the building without enquiring about the parcel with anyone else in the block of flats.
It was around this time the woman noticed Monaghan staring into her bedroom from his living room window across the street.
Asked by Ms Gunn how it had made her feel, the woman said she had felt “quite threatened and scared” and “uncomfortable in her own home”.
When Monaghan knocked on her front door on a second occasion, the woman told the court she shut the door in his face as she “didn’t want him anywhere near her”.
Monaghan then tried to add her on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, which she immediately blocked.
However, soon after she found him waiting outside her flat when she left to go to work – he would then follow her about 150 metres up the street.
This happened on around 10 to 15 occasions, the woman told the court.
Accused made neighbour’s friend ‘uneasy’
A friend of the woman also gave evidence in which she said she saw Monaghan watching her twice while she was visiting her friend.
The woman, also 24, told the fiscal depute she saw Monaghan staring at her through a gap in his curtains.
Soon after she said she looked again and saw him standing in open view staring at her for “a few minutes” and which had made her feel “uneasy”.
During his own evidence, Monaghan described the accusations against him as “absolute nonsense” and stated that he “did not remember ever seeing” his female neighbour ever before.
Sheriff Johnston ultimately found Monaghan guilty of the charge, stating that she found his accusers to be “credible and reliable” and described his evidence as “vague and lacking in detail”.
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