A woman who allegedly stalked a married doctor and his family, calling him 500 times and sending him 1,300 text messages, is in police custody in Brazil.
Kawara Welch, 23, began harassing the doctor, who withheld his name, a year after he treated her for depression at a hospital in the southeastern city of Ituiutaba in 2018.
The doctor told Brazilian news magazine Fantastico that Welch regularly waited around the corner of the medical facility until he finished his shift to follow him.
“She said it wasn’t a coincidence, that no one saves someone else’s life out of nowhere so often, that there was more to it,” the doctor said.
The doctor revealed that Welch broke into his clinic and “chased him” outside the practice several times.
Brazilian student Kawara Welch was arrested last week for stalking a married doctor. The 23-year-old reportedly called doctors 500 times and sent him 1,300 text messages in one go
The doctor recalled how Kawara Welch would wait for him outside the hospital, where he treated her for depression in 2018, and follow him in time. He added that Welch once burst into his clinic’s office while treating a patient and then got into an argument with his wife
Welch, who was arrested at her college last week, sent the doctor numerous emails and even went so far as to visit him at his home.
On one occasion, Welch threatened the doctor by telling him that she was going to tell her son that they were in a relationship.
The doctor said the stalking worsened when she was able to track down his cell phone number.
‘She had access to my mobile phone and started sending really disturbing messages and pictures, tying a sheet, taking a rope around her neck and saying goodbye to me. “I panicked,” he said.
He recalled changing his phone number at least three times. And every time he somehow managed to get his new number.
‘She ended up in a special situation and sent me 1,300 messages in one day. And phone calls, she sent me more than 500 calls in one day, one day,” the doctor said.
‘I changed my mobile number three or four times, but I stopped because I saw it was completely useless. She had an incredible ability to find my new song.”
The doctor, who denies ever having had a relationship with Welch, has drawn up 42 reports.
Kawara Welch claimed she and the doctor were in a relationship, a claim he denies
Kawara Welch had been wanted since March 2023 when a judge ordered her to be placed in pre-trial detention in connection with a robbery at the doctor’s clinic
Kawara Welch became so obsessed with the doctor that she threatened to tell his son about her relationship with him
Welch signed a document with the district attorney’s office promising not to contact the doctor in 2020.
Her obsession imploded in 2022 when she broke into the doctor’s office where he was treating a patient and assaulting his wife.
She confronted the doctor again at the clinic in 2023 and was arrested for assault and alleged theft of a cell phone, and was released after just a week in custody after posting $685 bail.
In March, a state court judge approved her pretrial detention for the theft and ignoring a restraining order.
Although Welch insists she and the doctor were in a relationship, Civilian Police Chief Rafael Faria insisted her behavior proves otherwise.
“We believe that such a relationship did not exist,” Faria said. And even if it were, it in no way justifies this kind of action, this kind of behavior from Kawara.”
However, her lawyer told Brazilian news outlet UOL that there is ample evidence pointing to her relationship with the doctor.
“This situation is proven by prints, testimonies, which have never been properly appreciated by the judiciary and the police,” Jean Alves said.
News of Welch’s arrest comes after a woman outed herself as the person highlighted in the Netflix series “Baby Reindeer” who stalked series creator Richard Gadd.
Gadd claimed he received 41,071 emails, 744 tweets, letters totaling 106 pages, and 350 hours of voicemail messages from his stalker over a period of four and a half years.
He and Netflix have insisted that the storyline will not reveal the stalker’s true identity. Gadd previously claimed to have concealed his stalker’s identity to such an extent that he said: ‘I don’t think she would recognize herself.
But Fiona Harvey claims otherwise.
A powerful scene in Baby Reindeer portrays the stalker tearfully pleading guilty in the dock and receiving nine months in prison.
Harvey insists this is a defamatory and devastating fabrication.
Her lawyer Chris Daw KC told the Mail: ‘Fiona maintains that she was never charged with any crime, let alone pleaded guilty and served a prison sentence, as suggested in Baby Reindeer.
“She claims this is pure fiction. I haven’t seen anything from Gadd or Netflix that supports this part of Baby Reindeer’s plot. The serious damage done to Fiona if this crucial part of the plot turns out to be fiction should be obvious to everyone.”