Victim speaks out about London, Ont., man on bail accused of harassing 12 women

Almost every time she looks at her Facebook page or Twitter feed, she sees his face. 

A simple walk now means looking over her shoulder. She doesn't wear headphones, so she can hear people approaching. She's put cameras outside her house, and put a safety plan together. 

An encounter with a man in mid-October has left her shaken, but what happened this week has made her angry: the man accused of harassing her and 11 other women in London is out on bail. Again. 

"It's enraging. While I understand the need for a fair process for this individual, there are 12 women who have been traumatized, their lives are forever changed," the woman told CBC News. 

The woman's name is protected under a publication ban, as is everything that happened at that bail hearing, including the evidence against Singh and reasons for his release. She contacted CBC News to let the community know how she is feeling.

Saranjeet Singh, 22, is charged with 12 counts of criminal harassment, one count of assault, and two counts of breaching release conditions. On Tuesday, a justice of the peace granted Singh's request for bail, provided he can live with a surety, someone who will supervise him until trial.

It's the second time he's been granted bail in just over a month.

"This whole thing has left me incredibly vulnerable. In addition to the 12 women, there are countless women who have experienced harassment and sexual violence in our community for whom hearing this story was triggering. It brings up that trauma again and again," the woman said.

"Every time I open my Twitter feed, I see this perpetrator's face. It's just a constant reminder and it's really frustrating because this is an individual who has defied his conditions twice, whose activity has escalated to the point of assault. I worry, for myself and for other women in our community." 

London police issued a public safety warning about Singh in early November. He was first charged in October after three women reported being harassed by a man who offered them cannabis, then followed them in a black four-door Honda Civic. Singh was charged. 

The next day, a man did the same thing to another woman. Singh was charged twice in the following few days. In total there were six separate incidents. Singh did not know the women he is accused of harassing. 

After his release Nov. 5, his conditions were very similar to this week's release: a curfew between 10 p.m. and 6 a.., a ban on using or buying cannabis, not being allowed to get close to the women connected with the case and not being allowed in a large area in London, including Western University. 

Singh was arrested a second time on Nov. 13, after a man was allegedly watching a woman before running across the road and then grabbing her. The woman was able to free herself and ran to call police. The man stayed outside and continued to watch her. 

"Unfortunately, from my personal experience and my years of working with survivors, the legal system really treats criminal harassment as a warning. It doesn't treat it as a form of violence in and of itself," said Julie Lalonde, a women's advocate who wrote a book about her own experience with a stalker, and who trains people in techniques bystanders can use to help those being harassed.