A JURY has been sent to consider whether a man stalked the owner of a Cardigan beauty salon.

Frank Janiurek, 43, of Heol Glyndwr in Fishguard, was charged with stalking a woman causing her serious alarm or distress between March 25 and July 10 in 2022.

It was alleged that after having a facial treatment at the salon, Janiurek repeatedly sent emails and called the salon, would regularly walk past the salon and turn up without an appointment, liked her picture using a fake Instagram account, and stared at her for a prolonged period when she out in Cardigan celebrating her birthday.

He denied the offence.

  • For the latest crime and court news for west Wales, you can join our Facebook group here.

Prosecutor Caitlin Brazel told the jury that the defendant “started sending emails” and making phone calls to the business asking for skincare advice and requesting further treatment after receiving a facial treatment on March 8.

She said the complainant gave Janiurek “the same advice” with him often asking questions he had already asked.

Ms Brazel said the complainant then saw the defendant down by the river bank when she was celebrating her birthday with friends. She said the defendant was staring at her “for approximately 20 minutes”, and then again afterwards too.

Ms Brazel said the complainant initially felt “discomfort” and “uneasy”, but this evolved in to “worry, scared, fear, constant anxiety every day, dread, absolute dread”.

The complainant had told the jury that she had installed further security measures at her address as a result of contact.

At first, the complainant told Janiurek that she had hurt her arm and wasn’t able to take on new clients, but on June 1 she told him that his contact was unwanted and asked him to seek treatment elsewhere.

Ms Brazel said that Janiurek had said that he believed the complainant was lying about injuring her arm because she was “intimidated about his contact with her”.

She asked the jury why, if the defendant believed this in early April, would he continue to contact her for months afterwards.

Matthew Murphy, defending, told the jury that the complainant was not direct in telling the defendant that he was making her feel uncomfortable.

“She doesn’t tell him anything about his behaviour and the effect its having on her before June 1,” he said.

“If she felt that way, be more direct. She was on June 1.

“How ought he have known that he was causing this harassment?”

He said that saying that she had an injured arm and continuing to sign off emails with ‘All the best’ did not signal that she wanted the contact to end.

He added that the defendant was neurodivergent and had Asperger’s syndrome, but stressed that that in itself did not form a defence.

Mr Murphy questioned the complainant’s evidence that Janiurek was repeatedly walking past the salon. The complainant had said that this was done on about 20 occasions.

“This is Cardigan,” Mr Murphy said. “This is a small town. It’s a rural market town with two streets for shopping.

“The complainant says the defendant walks up and down Pendre about 20 times in four months.

“That’s once a week.”

Mr Murphy said all of the defendant’s messages had been about beauty treatments – apart from one occasion after she had told him she had hurt her arm and he asked how her arm was.

“He’s engaging in multiple platforms with the business, not [the complainant],” he said.

He added that the picture Janiurek had liked with the Instagram account under a false name was a picture on the business’ account, not the complainant’s personal account.

The jury was sent out to consider their verdict on Thursday afternoon, and will continue their deliberations on Friday.