Has anyone else noticed how much easier it is to get a diagnosis if you are charged with a serious offence? Maybe we should see a lawyer instead of a doctor?
American Idol internet stalker jailed
Melbourne woman who cyber-stalked an American Idol contestant has been jailed for 26 months.
Tanya Maree Quattrocchi, 23, has admitted stalking 2004 runner-up Diana Degarmo by hacking into her My Space account, intercepting her emails and those of her mother and flatmate.
Victorian County Court Judge Lisa Hannan described Quattrocchi's offending as serious, especially considering it was committed after she had been placed on a community-based order for stalking Ms Degarmo only six months earlier.
Judge Hannan said the faceless stalking affected every aspect of the victim's life, and she had no way of feeling safe and was constantly vulnerable.
She sentenced Quattrocchi to 26 months jail with a non-parole period of 12 months.
She said she took into account Quattrocchi's guilty plea, her intellectual impairment, which had been assessed as borderline, and her recent diagnosis with Asperger's syndrome.
Quattrocchi, of Oak Park, had previously pleaded guilty to four counts of stalking.
The charges relate to the time between November 2007 and January this year.
AAP
28 May 2009, 10:41 pm
