Stalking is a crime of aggression that leaves no visible scars. Yet the effects of stalking are severely debilitating on emotional, mental and spiritual levels as they leave the victim feeling increasingly traumatised. The crime is one of veiled threats, harassment, intimidation, control, intrusion and emotional blackmail and often occurs over a prolonged period, resulting in accumulated confusion, isolation, alienation and eventually crisis for the victim.
Stalking may involve information gathering, importuning, parading a new victim, malicious remarks or behaviour, and upsetting remarks or language. The Readers Digest Universal Dictionary defines stalking as “to move threateningly, to pursue or track stealthily, to transverse threateningly or menacingly.” These definitions provide an example of the type of predatory prowling that perpetrators have towards their prey.