Stalking, or behaviours of harassment often characterised by ambushes, chases, striving for contact and/ or communication, which sometimes begin with accepted social conduct before becoming persistent and disturbing, not only exasperates victims, but also terrorises and renders them ill, thus constituting yet another point of contact between the cognitive requirements of criminologists and forensic psychiatrists alike. It often occurs between former partners (often with a history of domestic violence which can evolve in particularly violent manners), but also affects employees, employers, celebrities, etc. these victims are referred to as “primary victims”. However, in addition, relatives and friends of the primary can fall prey to stalkers, both directly, through resorting to an unpleasant demeanour, or indirectly, through the significant lifestyle changes necessary to protect the victim. Studies and research demonstrate that stalking can induce a series of different reactions within the victim, as besides negative feelings, considerably clinical symptoms of great interest from a psychiatric point of view can also arise until, in the extreme cases of stalking, accompanied by violence and serious threats, posttraumatic symptomatology begin to develop. If the persecution acts would lead to mental illness or simply exacerbate or aggravate it, only after establishing a diagnosis and causal linkage could it be possible to determine the existence, or non-existence of a biological damage born of mental nature. However, l'art. 612-bis of the penal code, through providing a definition of the crime, indicates terms that do not necessarily refer to psychopathological symptoms but may also simply refer to negative feelings, revealing nothing more than the presence of what was known prior to November 2008 as existential damage. In addition to the debate that this has triggered, and continues to cause, another problem concerns how and by whom the non-pecuniary damage, related to the effective crime perpetrated, would be determined. Apart from the assessment of the principal questions relating to the compensation for the damage occurred, without flowing into a frank pathology the authors disclose a case of stalking acted on by an employer against his employee.
