Wife stands by SA stalker husband

Married accountant sent lewd photos, messages

A MARRIED South African chartered accountant in London has been convicted of stalking and harassing three women in the UK.

The women were sent pictures of a penis, presumed to be his, and lewd text messages, and were subjected to “heavy breathing” phone calls.

Darrell Cheyne, 35, who lives in Guildford, was sentenced to 12 months in jail, suspended for two years, and slapped with a restraining order. In addition, he has to perform 100 hours of community service.

Even though authorities were aware of several South African women Cheyne had also allegedly stalked and harassed, they could not collect enough evidence to bring criminal charges in those cases.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police could not provide details on Cheyne’s alleged South African victims at the time of writing. But two of the women Cheyne harassed in the UK had been colleagues and one was a neighbour.

This week, Cheyne, through his solicitor, Abdullah alYunusi, told the Sunday Times: “I very much regret my actions and any concern that I may have caused.

“I was unwell and experiencing depressive episodes at the time of these offences. I have since been undergoing treatment and therapy to deal with my underlying issues.

“These have been dealt with and I look to putting this chapter of my life behind me and moving forward.”

His wife, Candice, was standing by him, al-Yunusi said.

Cheyne was arrested in April last year after one of his victims laid a complaint and police found evidence linking him directly to the distressing texts, phone calls and images the women received. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced this month at the Isleworth Crown Court.

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said: “He [Cheyne] was ordered to pay £1 200 costs (about R22 000) and a £100 victim surcharge. No compensation was ordered.

“A restraining order was issued for seven years, with a prohibition from contacting any female by phone or e-mail without identifying himself, or using a withheld number.”

Cheyne appears to have torpedoed his career. On his LinkedIn profile, he claims to have worked at Absa in Johannesburg and Barclays in London, and is now self-employed.

Al-Yunusi said the offences took place “over a two-year period”, but added: “These offences were a while ago, the last offence was about one year ago.”

He said the contact with victims was “not continuous, it was not as if he was doing this every day, there were periods where six months would go by [without Cheyne harassing his victims] and then a spate of contact over a couple of weeks. Which all coincided with the various depressive episodes he suffered; it was not a continuous onslaught.”

Cheyne had not apologised directly to any of his victims as “he is precluded from contacting anyone”, al-Yunusi said.

“It was something that was discussed with him by the probation services, as part of what they call restorative justice.

“The courts can sometimes pass a sentence that includes an element of that, but often in these types of cases the victims would not want contact and the police would pass on the result of the sentence,” he added.

I was unwell at the time and experiencing depressive episodes

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