"Its perpetrators are obsessed, its victims under siege. Melissa Marino reports on the crime that cost one woman everything.

One in four Victorians has been a victim of stalking, and one in 10 subjected to protracted harassment over at least a month as rates of the crime continue to rise, according to the most recent research.

A study by clinicians at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health has shown that victims were frightened by being stalked and that assaults by stalkers were "disturbingly frequent" - in 18 per cent of cases.

The most common methods of harassment involved unwanted telephone calls, intrusive approaches and being followed.

Most victims reported significant disruption to their daily lives, irrespective of whether violence was involved.

Stalking made headlines last week with the sentencing of athlete Robin Rishworth to 14 months' jail after he was convicted of stalking cross-country skiing champion Belinda Phillips.

Rishworth had stalked Ms Phillips since 1995, been convicted twice before and had breached intervention orders in the process.

Psychiatrist Michele Pathe - one of the study's authors and the director of the Stalking and Threat Management Centre - said athletes and celebrities were at a higher risk than others of being stalked, particularly by people seeking intimacy who became obsessed and could even believe they were in a relationship with them.

Overall, women were at the biggest risk of being stalked.

Dr Pathe said studies around the world consistently showed about 80 per cent of perpetrators were men with women most often the victims.

In her study, which involved a survey of 3700 Victorians, twice as many women reported being stalked at some time in their lives than men.

Younger people were also significantly more likely to report being stalked than older people, she said.

Dr Pathe said there was no doubt stalking rates were increasing - a growth that could not just be put down to a greater awareness of the crime, which was legislated against in 1994.

She said the increase reflected a culture of blame, more social instability and relationship breakdown leaving people feeling lonely and rejected.

The internet had also fuelled the rise, she said.

"There is no doubt it (the internet) is becoming a wonderful new mode of harassment," she said. "It's certainly increasing as more and more stalkers have access to it."

Dr Pathe said the internet was now a factor in 10 per cent of cases seen at the Stalking and Threat Management Centre, up from about 2 per cent in the mid-1990s.

Dr Pathe said stalkers could intrude into their victims' lives very effectively through the internet and laws could not appropriately address it.

The Victorian Government currently has legislation before parliament to make cyberstalking a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison - the first of its kind in the country.

Dr Pathe said stalking had a big impact on victims, with most drastically altering their lifestyle to cope. Some moved house or left jobs, others increased alcohol or drug use and some became suicidal, she said.

"They often become withdrawn, fearful and hyper-vigilant, and many of them develop anxiety disorders. Many develop depression, and a quarter of victims actually become suicidal," she said. "They really are quite major disruptions to their lifestyle and unless it's very minor stalking for a very short period of time, most are very significantly affected by it." "

Champion jailed for stalking

September 30, 2003

"Champion athlete Robin Rishworth has raced up skyscrapers and skiied alpine peaks, but he will spend the next few months keeping fit in a prison exercise yard.

Rishworth, 1989 winner of the race to climb New York's Empire State Building, was yesterday sentenced to 14 months' jail after losing his appeal against a conviction for stalking fellow cross-country skier and Olympic hopeful Belinda Phillips. He will serve a minimum of five months.

Rishworth, 38, who has twice won the race up Melbourne's Rialto building, appealed in the County Court against a 12-month sentence with a minimum term of six months, handed down in Wangaratta Magistrates Court last year.

Judge Joe Gullaci said Ms Phillips had rejected romantic overtures from Rishworth in 1995 and had been stalked by him afterwards, often suffering harassment during skiing races.

Rishworth was first convicted of stalking Ms Phillips in 2000 and was given a three-month suspended sentence. He now faces fresh charges arising from contact made with her while he was on bail in June and July this year.

Judge Gullaci said Rishworth, of Buxton, believed Ms Phillips needed his presence at races to perform at her best and was convinced that legal action against him was a plot by Ms Phillips to stop him racing. He said psychological reports indicated Rishworth was unrepentant, had little insight into his conduct and was likely to reoffend.

He imposed an intervention order prohibiting Rishworth from encroaching within 50 kilometres of Falls Creek or within a kilometre of Ms Phillips.

When he heard the order would stand for 10 years, Rishworth collapsed and lay motionless until ambulance staff took him to St Vincent's Hospital.

Judge Gullaci said Ms Phillips suffered depression and had moved house because of the stalking. She considered quitting the national ski team and abandoning her dream of competing in the 2006 Winter Olympics."


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