B.C. woman sues husband's former mistress over harassing phone calls, messages

VANCOUVER - A wife who claims she received dozens of harassing phone calls and messages from her husband's former lover is fighting back by launching legal action against the mistress in B.C. Supreme Court.

Josephine Exconde has filed a notice of civil claim against Geraldin Arabia Andrade on Monday, alleging she suffered harassment and nervous shock as a result of the messages she received between June 2011 and Aug. 28, 2012.

The legal action follows two separate complaints made by Exconde to the Vancouver Police Department, whose officers declined to investigate the matter because they considered it a civil issue, states the court document.

"The defendant's repetitive calling and threatening has caused physical harm to the plaintiff," states the notice of civil claim.

"The physical harm suffered by the plaintiff includes ... stress anxiety, insomnia, emotional grief, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and general feelings of lack of privacy."

Exactly what was in the messages was not detailed in the lawsuit.

The allegations have yet to be proven in court, and Andrade has yet to file a statement of defence.

Exconde's lawyer was unavailable for comment.

The affair took place in early 2011, according to the court document, and by June, Andrade had begun calling and sending messages to Exconde about the trysts.

Exconde claims Andrade called her home and workplace seven times that year, making harassing statements about the relationship between the wife and husband, the document states.

The suit says the behaviour migrated onto Facebook, where between Nov. 6, 2011 and Aug. 28, 2012, Andrade allegedly left 40 harassing messages for Exconde.

Exconde states she contacted Vancouver police twice to complain, making the second complaint May 15, 2012, but the police decided not to take action.

Vancouver police Const. Brian Montague said in an email to The Canadian Press he is not familiar with the case and can't speak specifically to it but noted officers investigate every reported incident.

"If there is evidence of criminal behaviour, the investigation will continue," he said in the email.

In those cases, he said officers gather evidence, identify suspects and forward a report to Crown counsel.

"In B.C., it is then up to Crown to decide if charges are laid. If at any point, a matter is deemed to be civil in nature and not criminal, the police will not investigate further," he added.

In the lawsuit, Exconde called Andrade's actions "outrageous," stating she has suffered "extreme emotional distress."

Exconde is seeking damages, lost wages, costs and a court order restraining Andrade from contacting her directly or indirectly.