Journey blogger in Indonesia’s Bali mounts worldwide attraction to cease stalker fan

BALI, Feb 26 (The Straits Occasions/ANN): After weeks of interesting to police and officers on three continents to cease a stalker seemingly bent on kidnapping her, 31-year-old social media influencer Alexandra Saper says assist could lastly be at hand.

The Bali-based American mentioned she fled Indonesia after Robert Keating – who had arrange a number of Instagram accounts to ship her messages and “darkish” e-mails together with dozens of lurid movies – arrived on the resort island on Jan 29.

Saper mentioned she had beforehand consoled herself that the messages had been the work of an unstable thoughts who probably wouldn’t navigate the challenges of worldwide journey to comply with via on the threats.

“Up till then I used to be terrified, however I spoke to my dad and mom about it and to my buddies in Bali, and we had been all simply: ‘He’s mentally in poor health. He gained’t do that.’ I used to be capable of inform myself it wasn’t an actual menace,” mentioned the lawyer-turned-travel-blogger, who has greater than 100,000 followers on Instagram.

However then Keating, mentioned to be a 38-year-old former visitors administration operative from Horsham, West Sussex, England, reached out to Saper’s buddies asking for her whereabouts and despatched messages concerning his journey dates.

“When he acquired to Bali, I lastly thought, it is a menace. This can be a hazard,” she mentioned.

She filed a report with the native police and moved in with buddies. On Feb 15, Saper, who calls Keating “deranged” and “delusional” in her posts, introduced on Instagram that she had escaped to “someplace else on the planet the place I do know I gained’t be discovered”.

Keating – who remains to be in Bali, in response to his Fb profile – makes plain his infatuation with Ms Saper, referring to her as his “queen”.

In one of many movies that The Straits Occasions has seen, he fashions a black cap and jacket and pulls the collar up round his nostril earlier than exclaiming into the digicam: “I’m going to kidnap your a**.”

After almost two weeks of telephones calls and technical glitches attempting to share a Google Drive folder of video and e-mails as proof, Ms Saper was instructed by regional police in Sussex final week that they’ve assigned officers to her case, which they known as “excessive” and a “textbook” case of a suspect intending to make use of violence.

Saper mentioned: “Now they lastly have all of the proof, which is black and white, so I’m hopeful they’ll transfer shortly.”

Indonesia in 2022 handed laws making sexual harassment and on-line stalking against the law.

However Bali police got here in for criticism from abroad media for seemingly performing too slowly to guard Saper, one thing native officers deny.

“We now have taken proactive measures to safe Ms Alexandra and the neighborhood,” police chief Leo Dedy Defretes, who oversees Badung district the place Ms Saper lived, instructed ST.

Particulars of police measures are withheld from publication to stop interference with ongoing operations.

However Saper’s flight from Bali – she has requested ST to chorus from publishing her location – could have stymied the investigation into Keating’s alleged threats, native police say.

Police mentioned investigators have briefed the US Embassy via its consulate in Bali this week in an try to succeed in out to Saper for particulars that might assist them conclude their investigations. They mentioned they lack the sources to translate all of the proof she offered and want her to specify the offending parts.

Saper instructed ST that Bali police had questioned her via a translator for over eight hours, and their insistence on her submitting to a psychological analysis wore her down, finally triggering a “trauma freeze”. Nonetheless, she has tamped down criticism of Indonesian police, saying her personal authorities and the British police have to do extra to maintain ladies protected from on-line stalking.

“This isn’t a Bali factor. I don’t really feel supported by the embassy,” Saper mentioned of the US mission. “I’ve been extraordinarily pissed off by the police within the UK, the place he’ll finally return to, the place he began this complete factor.”

When reached by ST via Instagram, Keating mentioned the movies had been a prank and her allegations had been “spun-up influencer rubbish”.

He dismissed the video depicting him warning that he’ll kidnap Saper. “How on earth can you are taking that critically? I’ve a playful nature. Silliness is part of who I’m.”

A spokesman on the British Embassy in Jakarta mentioned employees are “conscious of this case and have supplied to offer help” to Ms Saper.

Saper mentioned the embassy referred her to a consular agent on the US Embassy by way of prompt messaging.

US Embassy officers say they’re taking the matter critically.

“The protection and safety of Americans is our No. 1 precedence,” mentioned embassy spokesman Michael Quinn.

“We now have been speaking with the related authorities from the second we grew to become conscious of the case,” he mentioned, declining to elaborate.

Saper, who first got here to Bali 5 years in the past, posing for social media posts on the fringe of infinity swimming pools or with fiery tropical sunsets, mentioned she simply needs to return and get again to work.

Throughout a video chat, Saper was visibly exhausted and mentioned she was affected by acid reflux disease on account of stress. She mentioned she would use her “privilege” and social media following to boost consciousness of on-line harassment and problem the authorities to cease offenders earlier than they do bodily hurt.

A video posted on her Instagram detailing her ordeal has been performed greater than 730,000 instances.

“If it’s not me,” Saper instructed ST, “then he’s going to maneuver on to another person out of the country.” – The Straits Occasions/ANN