Zulfkar Ahmed (Image: South Wales Police)
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A 67-year-old man who sent thousands of unwanted messages to a cafe worker and stalked a shop employee has been sentenced to three years in prison.
Zulfkar Ahmed, of Corporation Road, Grangetown, Cardiff, had been convicted at trial of two counts of stalking and one count of breaching a stalking prevention order.
The victims
Cardiff Crown Court heard that Ahmed targeted a waitress at a cafe in Pontcanna over a period of two and a half years. He sent her thousands of text messages, bought gifts for her, and turned up at locations across Cardiff where she was present.
Despite being told to stop, Ahmed continued. A stalking protection order was put in place to prevent him from contacting the woman – but he ignored it and went on to send a further thousand messages.
Ahmed also stalked a second woman who worked at a homeware shop in Cardiff. He referred to her as “the pretty blonde girl” and his behaviour led to a warning from bosses at the store.
Impact on the victim
In an impact statement read to the court by prosecution barrister Nuhu Gobir, the cafe worker said she had once been an outgoing person who loved her independent life but that her previous confidence had been replaced by “fear and uncertainty”.
She said she no longer works at the cafe and now has a job which, though she does not enjoy it, allows her to work remotely – which makes her feel safer.
She said Ahmed’s behaviour had affected every aspect of her life and left her “overwhelmed and exhausted”.
The woman said giving evidence and being cross-examined during the trial had been one of the most distressing experiences of her life, adding: “It felt like my reality was being distorted.”
Defence arguments
David Leathley, for Ahmed, said reports before the court detailed the defendant’s personality disorder and possible paranoia.
He said the messages sent to the cafe worker were “well-meant” and that in his client’s “deluded state of mind” he thought “he was doing right when he was doing wrong”.
The barrister accepted Ahmed had sent a thousand messages after the victim had told him to stop, but said in his submission: “This is a man in need of help rather than punishment.”
Sentencing
Recorder Greg Bull KC said that for reasons best known to himself, Ahmed had taken an interest in his victims and “hoped that interest would blossom romantically”.
He said he was satisfied the defendant had a paranoid personality rather than a psychiatric disorder, and noted Ahmed had told a doctor who interviewed him that he believed the allegations were a conspiracy against him.
The judge said Ahmed had shown no insight into his offending and no remorse.
Ahmed was sentenced to three years in prison and will serve up to half in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. He was also made subject to 15-year restraining orders in respect of both victims.
He has three previous convictions for three offences including an assault occasioning actual bodily harm from 1992 and obstructing an enforcement officer from 2012.
