Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of mental illness that some may find distressing
These days, sharing our lives on social media is so normalised that concerns about privacy usually gets put on the back burner.
However, that should not be the case because not everyone on the Internet is well-meaning. Sometimes, sharing photos and videos that expose our location or residence can be extremely dangerous as it gives stalkers the opportunity to find us in person.
Recently, Malaysian entrepreneur, Wan Nur Syaira shared her unfortunate encounter with a man who broke into and vandalised her office after having stalked and harassed her and her company for years.
Unusual behaviour online
In her Twitter thread, she explains that it all started in 2020 when the mentally ill man from Terengganu, Hisyam Azlan Johari, pretended to be a client by sending Syaira’s company an email.
He inquired about the rental of her office space for a product shoot.
“The inquiry we received from him felt normal. It was no different to the inquiries we’ve gotten from other clients”, she said.
“This is to show that he has the ability to behave normally and is rational enough to plan his moves.”
After the initial inquiry, he continued contacting Syaira’s team on WhatsApp. This raised their suspicions of Hisyam because he kept calling them at odd hours, during their off days and was being rude overall.
Eventually, Syaira told her team to block Hisyam for not respecting them and their working hours.
According to Syaira, she has never had any interactions with Hisyam.
“He has been commenting on my posts and sending me Direct Messages (DMs) – none of which I took seriously”, she said, adding that she has never responded to him except for her team blocking him.
Breaking into the office
Then, on September 1, 2022, Hisyam made his move and broke into Syaira’s office as she was leaving the area by car.
After noticing that her office’s balcony door was open and her paintings were being moved to the window, she had a terrible feeling that something was off.
However, even after she received a call from the security guard informing her about a man screaming in her unit, she could not believe that the guard was referring to her unit.
It was only after speaking to the management that she realised that a man had broken into her office.
“My heart sank when I found out that it was this guy has been obsessed with and following me online for a while now”, said Syaira.
Some of the things Hisyam did in the office unit include:
- giving paintings from the office to the restaurants and barbers downstairs, and claiming them as gifts from him
- burning the office’s curtains
- stabbing a painting
- defecating in his boxers and leaving them in the toilet
- throwing things from the balcony towards the parking lot
He even made the barber downstairs give him a facial as he claimed that he was getting married to Syaira on Sunday (yesterday).
What makes all these scarier is the fact that he was tweeting from his Twitter account while going on his rampage in Syaira’s office space.
The aftermath
According to Sentul District Police Chief Assistant Commissioner Beh Eng Lai, the suspect has been arrested.
Syaira also thanked the public for informing her of Hisyam’s whereabouts. He was seen screaming at a hospital and has allegedly been admitted to a psychiatric ward.
It seems that Hisyam is suffering from Bipolar Disorder and was staying with his parents in Terengganu, but has not been taking his medication for 6 months now.
“I was informed that he has had an episode before and this is his second time”, said Syaira in her tweet.
Thankfully, no one was hurt. Everyone, do be careful of sharing your whereabouts online. We never know who is lurking.
Also read: Security Guard Enters M’sian Woman’s Home, Takes Off Clothes & Contacts Her To Ask Where She Is
