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Ushar Daniele

A man suspected of repeatedly stalking a 22-year-old university student has been arrested in Malaysia after CCTV footage showing him sniffing her shoes outside her flat went viral on social media.
The footage shows a man in a black T-shirt loitering in a corridor outside what is believed to be the victim’s home in Shah Alam, before reaching through a grille to grab her footwear and sniff it.
The victim lodged a police report on Sunday after the post drew widespread attention, claiming to have been repeatedly harassed by the same man since April, both at her university and around her residence.
Police arrested the suspect at 8.30pm on Sunday. “The suspect, who is in his twenties, is also a university student,” Shah Alam district police chief Assistant Commissioner Sarudin Samah said in a statement on Monday. “Initial checks found that he has no prior criminal record and tested negative for drugs.”
Police obtained a one-day remand order from Shah Alam Magistrates Court to allow further investigations.


Anti-stalking law
Stalking was criminalised in Malaysia three years ago under Section 507A of the Penal Code, which came into force in May 2023. The law faced its first major test just months later, when photographer Acacia Diana went public with an eight-year ordeal of relentless stalking and cyber harassment.
Under the law, stalking is defined as a repeated act of harassment intended, or likely, to cause distress, fear or alarm for a person’s safety. Offenders convicted under the law face up to three years in prison, a fine, or both, while victims can apply for a protection order to legally bar the stalker from approaching or contacting them during investigations.
Acacia said her ordeal began in 2016, when her stalker, Mohamad Safiq Rosli, sent her lewd photographs before eventually following her to the United Kingdom, where she was pursuing her studies.












View this post on Instagram























A post shared by Acacia Diana (@acaciadiana)



She said he created more than 30 social media accounts to contact her, leaving her fearful for her safety. Her formal police report led to his arrest, and he became the first person charged under the anti-stalking law in August 2023.
Mohamad Safiq was initially ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation, which found he had schizophrenia. He first pleaded not guilty, then later changed his plea, but the court rejected the guilty plea and ordered a full trial.
In January 2024, the court acquitted him after accepting an insanity plea, ordering his indefinite detention at Hospital Bahagia, Malaysia’s oldest and largest psychiatric institution.
A 2020 study by the Women’s Aid Organisation and Vase.ai found that 88 per cent of 1,008 Malaysians surveyed had experienced stalking-related behaviour, with more than a third reporting incidents that caused them to be fearful.


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A male university student faces jail time after being caught on camera sniffing shoes outside a flat in Shah Alam


A male university student faces jail time after being caught on camera sniffing shoes outside a flat in Shah Alam.


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In Malaysia, viral shoe-sniffing video sparks stalking arrest

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A male university student faces jail time after being caught on camera sniffing shoes outside a flat in Shah Alam

A male university student faces jail time after being caught on camera sniffing shoes outside a flat in Shah Alam