The public servant who subjected a Dunedin businessman to ‘‘a living hell’’ for two and a-half years has finally been named.
Jeremy Fraser Buis (39) was sentenced in the Dunedin District Court yesterday to 200 hours’ community work and ordered to pay the victim $15,000 after being found guilty of criminal harassment, threatening to do grievous bodily harm and intentional damage, following a week-long, judge-alone trial last month.
Here is how his harassment of victim Danny Pryde - who voluntarily gave up his own name suppression yesterday - unfolded.
June 14, 2012: Jeremy Buis parks his car blocking the rear entrance to Pryde Engineering in Ward St. The car is ticketed after Danny Pryde alerted the council and the pair later have a heated discussion.
15-06-12 The same vehicle is parked in almost the same position.
Mr Pryde sends Buis a text: ``clever parking dick head'' and takes a photo which he shares on Facebook. The defendant makes a police complaint about alleged damage to his car and writes a letter to the council which sees his parking fine quashed.
August 2012: Mr Pryde receives messages to his phone featuring semi-naked pictures of an unknown woman.
March-April 2013: He begins to receive texts from men wanting to meet for sex. The victim discovers his number has been written in various locations at a notorious homosexual hook-up spot. He spray paints over the writing and replaces his phone number with that of the defendant.
19-04-13: Mr Pryde makes a statement to police about the harassment.
23-10-13: He receives a courier bag at work containing a male sex toy.
February-March 2014: Two photos are sent to the Mr Pryde's phone showing his name graffitied around Dunedin alongside gay slurs.
12-02-14: A fake profile on an internet-dating website is created using photos and contact details of the victim from his work website.
Forensic analysis shows Buis accessed the business page online that day.
28-05-14: Mr Pryde is alerted to the profile by a person wanting to meet him for sex.
March-July 2014: Numerous instances of derivations of the victim's name being tagged around town.
16-08-14: Mr Pryde receives a text from an unknown number: ``You have some ***-up *** coming your way.''
22-08-14 - 4-09-14: More instances of tagging around Dunedin.
10-09-14: An improvised paint bomb using a modified light bulb is thrown at Mr Pryde's business. He says it happened a year earlier too.
Buis searching online for how to make paint-ball grenades around this time.
September 2014: Mr Pryde appears in the Otago Daily Times and receives a disparaging text message from an anonymous source. The same day Buis has a conversation on a messaging app with a colleague during which they deface the photo of the victim with pictures of penises.
21-10-14: Mr Pryde uses a new cellphone to try to unmask the stalker.
2-12-14: The harassment hits its peak. The victim receives a text: ``Just make sure your affairs are in order. This last one might sting a bit.'' ``Buy something bullet proof . . . better go to the cops.''
9-02-15: Weed-killer is used to write ``PRYDEE'' in six-foot letters on a rugby ground.
24-02-15: Police execute a search warrant at Buis' home.
They find a note found in his vehicle bearing almost the exact email address used to set up the dating profile and the number of one of the phones used to stalk him. Forensic analysis of the defendant's laptop finds various photos of the victim and his family that had been saved.
18-04-15: Mr Pryde receives mail sent to his home containing a photo of him vandalised with numerous phallic images. The photo is the same one the defendant had defaced with friends via cellphone app.
