By Alex Jimenez
HAYWARD, CA – Charged with felony stalking, Kaushal Singh—even by his own lawyer’s admission—has repeatedly violated court orders to stay away from his neighbor, and Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson said last week he’s concerned about the neighboring family’s safety.
The judge is refusing to release Singh from custody until he knows more about the case.
Singh lives with his parents in Hayward, and has been charged with felony stalking and disobeying court orders. Singh, who has a drug addiction history and has a minimal criminal history, has repeatedly stalked his neighbor, according to court documents.
“What’s wrong with Mr. Singh, what’s wrong with the way he thinks? How can he keep getting himself arrested despite being given court orders,” asked the judge as he confirmed that there have been at least 10 instances of harassment ranging from racial slurs to throwing coffee at the 23-year-old victim, allegedly by Singh. 
Assistant Public Defender Kendra Nicole Clark told the court that Singh is struggling with drug addiction and “believes that is what precipitated many of these instances.” There is, the PD said, an effort to place him in a treatment center but due to COVID-19 there’ve been problems doing so.
The resolution proposed by Clark is that Singh would stay with his sister far away from the victim and would be consistently supervised, adding, “The family is aware of the seriousness of the situation” and are working on a temporary solution that would limit any possibility of stalking before Singh can be transported to a drug treatment facility.
Judge Jacobson acknowledged the points made by Clark, but insisted that Singh be put on electronic monitoring and stay at least 1,000 yards away from the residence.
The judge was very open to releasing Singh on his own recognizance, given that the criminal history is “narrow but deep” regarding his fixation with the neighbor, but of minimal concern for community safety.
Deputy District Attorney Kevin Asvitt objected to releasing Singh from custody, arguing, “This family has been terrorized for so long … we can see what’s going on with this fixation or obsession with the family and not following court orders.”
Asvitt referred to video footage that captured some of the instances showing cigarettes and coffee being thrown and the victim’s brother having to detain Singh following a physical altercation.
Judge Jacobson wanted to hold off on releasing Singh until an electronic monitoring device could be placed on him and also requested to view the video footage.
The court will reconvene this week for further evaluation.
