'Obsessed' Dunedin woman jailed for harassment

A Dunedin woman has been jailed on harassment charges. Photo / 123RF

A 2am Tinder rendezvous has led to a Dunedin woman being jailed on harassment charges, a court has heard.

In less than 36 hours in November, Karen Ilya Laing, 28, called a 24-year-old man 40 times and left 40 voicemail messages.

The recordings contained threats to assault him.

"She... stated that he wasn't a real victim of assault and if she was going to do a crime it would be a real crime," a police summary said.

It was a similar story during a two-week spell in October.

Laing rang the man 92 times, leaving 50 messages, which contained threats that she would travel to Auckland to attack him.

It all began on September 4 when the defendant turned up at a North Dunedin house following contact through the dating app.

"It was a Tinder date and he invited her at 2am," counsel Rhona Daysh said.

Laing had previously been trespassed from the property and when she knocked on the door she was asked to leave.

The victim called police but before they could arrive, she "bashed open" the front door.

She entered the house and grabbed the man around the neck, pulling him towards her.

He managed to slip out of the shirt he was wearing and barricaded himself in his bedroom.

But Laing was relentless.

She tried to force the door open and when the victim pushed back, she fell on the floor.

The man came out and pinned Laing to the ground until police arrived.

She was too drunk to make a comment, the summary said.

Laing appeared at the Dunedin District Court yesterday having pleaded guilty to charges of assault, intentional damage, trespass, breaching release conditions and two of criminal harassment.

"It's more of the same," Daysh told the court.

Judge Dominic Flatley detailed Laing's criminal history during which she had been jailed three times since 2012 for similar obsessive behaviour.

"You need to develop some insight and a degree of responsibility for your own health but also in relation to this type of offending," he said.

"If it continues you're going to be continually sent back to prison, which is not what any of us want to see happen."

Daysh said her client "desperately" needed professional help.

She explained Laing had struggled to have normal relationships since she was a child and that the incessant calls stemmed from her desire for clarity on the situation between her and the victim.

"She tried to ring him and talk to him about her feelings and she wanted to know his. She was just really frustrated because she felt rejected," Daysh said.

Judge Flatley sentenced Laing to four months' imprisonment, which meant she would soon be released because of the time she had already spent behind bars.

He imposed six months of post-detention conditions in a bid to get her the psychological intervention she needed.