The Indo Daily: 20,000 texts and physical assault – a male Irish stalking victim’s ‘living nightmare’

Jarlath Rice shared his experience in Stalked, a Virgin Media documentary, earlier this year. Photo: Virgin Media

Over 22 million people have watched the Netflix series Baby Reindeer which follows the real-life story of Richard Gadd, who was stalked and sexually assaulted by a female customer in a pub where he had worked.

For Dubliner Jarlath Rice, watching the show brought back memories of his own harrowing experience.

It was Easter 2007 and Jarlath had an innocent cup of coffee with a stranger that he bumped into at a cafe in Dublin’s Ranelagh.

As a date, it was fine, and they met up a couple of times after that. But Rice just had a gut feeling that they weren't a romantic match, and he made the mistake of feeling sorry for her.

What followed was ten years of hell as Jarlath, his family, friends and work colleagues all became victims of his female stalker.

Today on The Indo Daily, Ellen Coyne is joined by Jarlath Rice who tells his unbelievable story of being harassed by an extreme stalker and the toll that it took on his life. We'll also hear from Dr Ciara Staunton, a forensic psychologist and academic operations manager at University College Cork, who outlines some of the red flags to watch out for if you meet someone new. She also tells us what you should do if you find yourself the victim of a stalker.