Judge CLEARS executive of harassing ex-girlfriend via video doorbell

Judge CLEARS executive of harassing ex-girlfriend by sending abusive messages through her video doorbell after ruling that they had short relationship of purely casual sex ‘which had its ups and downs’

• Christian Frattarelli has been cleared of harassing his ex through her doorbell
• The 36-year-old recorded himself calling Paola Fasoli ‘a piece of s***’ in Italian
• The judge ruled that their short relationship of casual sex ‘had its ups and downs’

A business executive has been cleared of harassing his ex-girlfriend by sending abusive messages through her video doorbell after the judge ruled that they had a short relationship of casual sex ‘which had its ups and downs’.

Christian Frattarelli, 36, had recorded himself calling architect Paola Fasoli ‘a piece of s***’ and telling her to ‘look at my d*** moron’ in Italian.

Ms Fasoli, 40, was on holiday in Dubai at the time and was bombarded with notifications from the electronic doorbell.

She told the court that they had ‘a relationship without feeling’, adding: ‘It was not intimate. Sex is like a gym. It was just exercise.’

The couple had lived together in Chelsea and he moved in next door when their relationship ended, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard. 

Using the video doorbell was the only way Frattarelli could contact his ex girlfriend after she blocked him on Facebook, WhatsApp and all social media.

After Ms Fasoli completed her evidence District Judge Briony Clarke acquitted Frattarelli of harassment. 

Christian Frattarelli has been cleared of harassing his ex-girlfriend by abusing her through her video doorbell after he moved next door. Frattarelli at Westminster Magistrates Court in October

The judge noted how the text messages were all sent one morning and there was a distinct lack of domestic history between the couple in that they were just ‘having, and I don’t mean this pejoratively, casual sex.’

She said: ‘It was a short intimate relationship which had its ups and downs… There was abuse on both sides.’

She told the court: ‘The defendant faces one matter of harassment between 1 December 2021 and 19 February 2022.

‘From the outset I found the complainant to be a slightly evasive witness.

‘I hear the evidence she gave to me about feeling trapped. The fact she was trapped does not quite make sense given that she allowed him in her home.

‘There was still this back-and-forth between them. Petty bickering. The defendant calls her a moron, she calls him a pleb. She makes reference to him seeing another woman.

‘She has sex with him again after Dubai and had a conversation about putting it all behind them.

‘Even if his actions did amount to harassment, I cannot be sure that he knew or ought to have known that his actions amounted to harassment.

‘I therefore find the defendant not guilty.’

An application for a restraining order upon acquittal was sought by the prosecution but it was refused.

Judge Clarke said: ‘The defendant now has got the message — she doesn’t want anything to do with him. I do not find it necessary.’

A stalking protection order was also refused after the judge compared the doorbell ringing to ‘childish behaviour’.

The judge said she was not satisfied that this was an act associated with stalking.

‘I do not exercise my judgment to find that it is necessary to protect [the complainant] from such a risk, but I will appropriately warn the defendant,’ she added.

The judge told Frattarelli: ‘I have acquitted you of this offence because I cannot be sure that the offence is made out.’

She noted that although she has declined to make a protective order for Ms Fasoli, this does not prevent her from doing so through the civil courts.

‘One thing I am quite sure of today is that she wants nothing to do with you. I understand you want nothing to do with her.

‘You have not contacted her since 19 February and that needs to remain the case. I am not prohibiting you, I am just telling you, it would be extremely wise to have nothing to do with her.

‘Don’t go near her or her property. If you do, the police will arrest you quicker than you can blink and you will then be back in court for harassment and they will use this case as the first course of conduct.

‘Have nothing to do with her.’

Earlier today, Ms Fasoli said she met Frattarelli five years ago at a work social event.

Ms Fasoli told Westminster Magistrates’ Court they had ‘a relationship without feeling’, adding: ‘It was not intimate. Sex is like a gym. It was just exercise.’

‘We were not in a close friendship. We had something in common; working in the same industry,’ she told the court.

‘There was something that I didn’t trust in the defendant so this is why it didn’t become the best friendship.’

Ms Fasoli said that Frattarelli would frequently ask for money and she trusted him because he was the same nationality as her.

In October 2021, Frattarelli sent a picture to Ms Fasoli with his face covered in blood claiming he had been robbed and asking if he could stay at her apartment for a few days.

‘I accepted as I usually try to help people in general this way,’ she said.

‘This was just for a few days. Unfortunately it was longer than a few days — it ended up being two months.

‘In these two months I was trapped. I was blocked in my own house, I couldn’t see my friends. I couldn’t have the normal life I wanted and usually had…’

Frattarelli moved out of Ms Fasoli’s £700,000 apartment in Fulham Road, Chelsea and into the address next door late last year.

Ms Fasoli said at first she thought this was a good thing but ‘instead it was the start of a nightmare’.

After shouting at her through the doorbell Frattarelli eventually tore it away from the wall outside Ms Fasoli’s apartment.

‘In these two months I was trapped,’ Ms Fasoli said. I was blocked in my own house, I couldn’t see my friends. I couldn’t have the normal life I wanted and usually had…’

The abusive messages were sent across a period of two months between December 1, 2021 and February 19, 2022.

Ms Pasoli told the court she did not understand why Frattarelli was abusive.

She said: ‘He made me really scared. My assumption is that he was angry due to jealousy because the day before one of my male friends came to have dinner with me.

Ms Fasoli said she was barely sleeping two or three hours per night. Pictured, Frattarelli at Westminster Magistrates Court in June

‘He started calling me later that day, he sent me some messages saying I was a b***h.

‘This has had a severe impact on my life, in particular since I was trapped because I could not conduct my normal life.

‘I thought if he moved away it would be a relief but instead things became worse, he became anxious and more controlling.’

The court heard that Frattarelli, now 37, sent a text to Ms Fasoli calling her ‘more disgusting than a prostitute’.

Ms Fasoli said: ‘I was fearful, it was all this anger from someone who should just be my neighbour and was for a period my friend.

‘He was completely crazy, calling me names, spying on me.’

At the peak of his alleged harassment she said she was barely sleeping two or three hours per night.

Ms Fasoli said the ordeal had caused her losing weight and made her hair fall out.

Frattarelli, of Fulham Road, Chelsea, was cleared of harassment without violence after a day-long trial.

A charge of theft of the doorbell worth £50 was earlier dropped.

Leaving the dock Frattarelli thanked his solicitor and assured the court he would not bother Ms Fasoli again.

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