Woman sent 1000 angry texts after Tinder date’s disinterest, court hears

Over text and voicemail, a woman threatened to ruin a man's life. Photo / 123rf

A woman who felt cast aside after a date sent the man one thousand belligerent texts and accused him of abuse on Instagram.

When he called the police, Karen Butterworth told him to withdraw the charge or she would accuse him of rape.

The 40-year-old assistant accountant said she felt hurt and used after they were intimate but that was no excuse for the sheer number of insulting messages she fired, including one calling him a “fatty”, her lawyer, Sam Galler, told the Manukau District Court in South Auckland at her sentencing on Monday afternoon.

Butterworth knew the man briefly from work before the two reconnected on Tinder in 2020 and dated.

According to a court summary, the man was unclear and inconsistent in what he wanted for the relationship.

She was already sending him numerous unwanted texts, but her messages became abusive when he said he no longer wanted to be friends.

When he blocked her on his personal phone, she sent messages and voicemail to his work phone.

He called the police, who told her to desist or there could be consequences.

She didn’t stop, calling the victim the same day, and later threatening to accuse him of rape and assault if he did not withdraw his police report.

Over the following two months, she would go on to fire a further 1000 abusive and belligerent messages saying she would ruin his life, job, and reputation.

She then made an Instagram post tagging the man’s personal and work profiles, saying he abused and threatened to kill her.

She also posted a screenshot of two unkind and demeaning messages he sent her.

The man’s two comments were hurtful but the response was “out of all proportion”, Judge Sharyn Otene said when declining Butterworth’s request for a discharge without conviction at the Manukau District Court.

Her offending was serious and has the potential to undermine real victims of violence - “Even in the face of police warning she did not desist,” the judge said.

Making false rape accusations and allegations of male violence, especially on social media, defeats legitimate narratives of sexual and physical violence, she continued.

“It had the potential to undermine actual victims of those crimes, and to undermine wider public interest in ensuring actual perpetrators are held accountable,” Judge Otene said.

Butterworth has no prior conviction and her lawyer said she started counselling early on, engaged a life coach and completed a non-violence programme.

She is working as an assistant accountant while studying to become a full-fledged accountant, but a conviction could derail this possibility, Galler told the court.

Judge Otene declined the discharge, but gave her credit for her guilty plea, remorse and rehabilitation efforts.

Butterworth was convicted and given a six-month good behaviour order, where she could be called up for sentencing if she reoffends.