Jennifer Garner’s alleged stalker has a mental disorder which doctors have tried to regulate with prescribed medication, according to his aunt.

The Alias star was granted a temporary restraining order against Steven Burky on 7 November after she submitted to the Los Angeles Superior Court an alarming declaration detailing Burky’s behaviour.

In the document, the actress alleged that “Mr Burky has been stalking and harassing me,” sending “packages and letters containing delusional and paranoid thoughts and following me around the country… his obsessive and harassing behaviour has escalated to the point of becoming dangerous and threatening.”

Burky first initiated contact with Garner in 2002, when he disguised himself as a college student in Ohio and then as a punk rocker at a record store in Los Angeles in order to meet her, according to a report in the New York Daily News.

He even sent an email to a member of Garner’s film crew in February, begging that the star be warned about a vision he had in which she would be persecuted by a mob.

But according to his aunt Maxine Burky, the 36-year-old’s obsession is the result of a psychological condition.

She tells the New York Daily News, “He does have a mental disorder. He’s supposed to be taking medication. It’s been an infatuation for many years. He’s not dangerous.”

Maxine insists that the Burky family sympathises with Garner: “Something had to be done. I understand a stalker can ruin someone’s life.”

In the temporary restraining order, a judge ruled that Burky must stay 100 yards (300 feet/91 metres) from Garner, her husband Ben Affleck and their daughter Violet.

A hearing has been scheduled for Thursday to make the order permanent, but Burky will not be in court as he is reportedly in a psychiatric ward.

source