A jealous husband who feared his wife was cheating on him, discovered she was having an affair with another woman after placing a spy camera in her home and putting a tracker device on her car.
His wife of 18 years called in the police when she discovered she was being watched and yesterday estranged husband Martins Veiksanes stood in the dock at crown court where he admitted a charge of stalking.
Sporting a grey polo shirt, clean-shaven Veiksanes had previously admitted using tracking devices on his wife's vehicle and hiding a camera in her living room after he became suspicious she was cheating on him.
It was revealed in court that the 43-year-old man's partner had in fact been seeing another woman during the breakdown of their marriage, leading him to stalk her over the course of around a month.
Prosecutor Sarita Basra said: "This hearing deals with one case of stalking involving serious alarm/distress, taking place between June 5 and July 19 this year, where the defendant was stalking his ex-wife.
"He contacted her, attended her place of work, tracked her vehicle and placed a camera in her living room. The victim in this case, Inga Veiksanes, had been the wife of the defendant for 18 years.
"She said he has a drinking problem and she said his behaviour was made worse because of his drinking. She found a new partner who was of the same sex but she received constant messages from the defendant.
"She felt the relationship had deteriorated to a point that it was not recoverable. She moved address but the defendant found her, which came as a surprise to her.
"The defendant took her car and he went to her work address and said he wanted to take her home but she refused. She was very frightened of him. There was a lull, where he returned her car.
"On June 23, she contacted police because of his behaviour and he was given bail conditions. Again, on July 18 police received a further call about him - he had been contacting her by WhatsApp and called her names in Latvian.
"He had been abusive about the new relationship she had entered into. She felt she was being followed by him. On one occasion, she drove to TK Maxx and shortly afterwards he asked about her spending money.
"On another occasion, she went to the beach with her partner - she hadn't told anyone, not even her son - but that evening, the defendant messaged the son, asking if she had told him about her trip.
"She asked him if he was tracking her and he said 'there's a lot you can do with technology.' She took her car to the garage for general repairs when a man who worked there, said there was a tracker fitted to the car.
"She saw the alarm clock in her living room and there was a camera and a memory card. There was another camera found underneath the driving seat in her car."
Following his arrest, Veiksanes told police he had fitted the tracker and the camera in the vehicle to prove she had been cheating on him. He also claimed that the camera in the living room was never set up but he had put it there to "see how loyal his wife was."
Veiksanes admitted the one count of stalking involving serious alarm/distress.
Defending, Alan Walker KC said: "Mr Veiksanes accepts he took the relationship breakdown very badly. He accepts he had a problem with alcohol and he had a period of abstinence, attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
"He has come to terms with the end of the relationship. The defendant accepts he behaved in a way that he is ashamed of. He is now getting his life back on track - he has accommodation, has work as a labourer five days a week and he has put his reliance on alcohol behind him."
Sentencing in Reading Crown Court, Judge Emma Nott said: "You stalked and deliberately contacted her directly and through your son, who was 11 years old at the time, sending him messages in Latvian, a language he could not understand.
"You placed a camera in the house, watching her in her own home. You placed a tracker on her car because you wanted to know what she was doing, but also so you could control her.
"You were constantly telling her things about where she was and what she was doing, so she could feel you were constantly looking over her shoulder. This is stalking designed to punish her for leaving you and for a person of the same sex.
"You told your ex-wife she was sick and needed to see a doctor. You told probation that in the UK the court system favours the women and in Latvia, women are expected to be corrected by their partner and that homosexuality is a crime.
"You are not in Latvia, you are in the UK and in the UK homosexuality is not a crime. Attacking and harassing someone for being homosexual is a crime. No woman is the property of her partner, but domestic abuse is a crime."
Veiksanes, of Church Lane, Wallingford, was sentenced to nine months imprisonment, which was suspended for two years. He was also ordered to undertake 40 days of rehabilitation activity requirements and made subject to trail monitoring for six months.
A restraining order was also made against him, preventing him from attending his former partner's address, and preventing him from messaging his son in any language other than English.
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