Stalker sentenced for ‘vile’ harassment of ex-lover’s wife
An Auckland woman will do 120 hours of community work for harassing her former lover’s wife.
Margaret Denise Kronfeld appeared via video before Judge Michael Crosbie for sentencing in Dunedin District Court yesterday.
The 52-year-old sent fictitious emails, made hang-up calls, and accessed a computer system connected to the victim’s family, and ‘‘it was not an isolated incident’’, Judge Crosbie said.
Her behaviour was ‘‘nothing short of disgraceful‘‘ and the impact on the victim was profound, the judge said.
Kronfeld had lost her job after media publicity over the incident.
In his earlier reserved decision, Judge Crosbie said the emails, texts and malicious phone calls were part of ‘‘a premeditated, persistent, vile barrage and attack on [the victim]’’.
The fallout of a three-year affair between Kronfeld and a Dunedin businessman ended with her facing eight charges. Two charges were later dropped.
Kronfeld pleaded guilty to charges of using a telephone to annoy and sending fictitious messages and was found guilty on the four remaining charges, which included criminal harassment and accessing a computer system.
Details of the latter charge were suppressed.
During the trial, it was revealed Kronfeld set up 11 fake email aliases to harass her victim, who has name suppression, and made and sent 148 nuisance calls, texts and emails.
The victim told the court she felt as if the anonymous sender of the messages was trying to frighten her and make her beg.
Some texts made reference to her children, including ‘‘my instructions are to find your children’’.
Kronfeld knew harassment would make the victim reasonably fear for her children, Judge Crosbie said in his decision.
The victim’s husband, and Kronfeld’s former lover, who cannot be identified because of his wife’s name suppression, told the court he did not give Kronfeld the password to a family email account in 2011, which was later used to access a third-party’s computer system. ‘‘A bunch of lies,’’ he said. Their affair ended in February 2014.