Stalker jailed for 8 months

THE granddaughter of a worldclass Dunedin swimming coach has been locked up again for stalking.

Karen Ilya Laing — whose grandfather was Duncan Laing, who coached Danyon Loader to Olympic glory in 1996 — was jailed for eight months when she appeared before the Christchurch District Court yesterday.

Her latest spate of offending took place only days after she was released from her last prison term for similar behaviour.

On that occasion she received a fourmonth sentence following a Tinder hookup that went wrong.

The 28yearold met a man through the dating app and was invited to his North Dunedin home.

But the man had second thoughts and Laing ended up smashing her way into the house while the victim barricaded himself in his room.

She forced her way in but the victim pinned her down and waited for police to arrive.

Despite being jailed for the incident, Laing began texting the Aucklandbased man almost immediately after being released.

Between February 4 and February 17 she sent him eight messages, which contained some chilling threats.

‘‘You need more than a . . . hiding, you need to die,’’ one said.

Others stated she would stab the victim and there were also bizarre references to golden retrievers.

A harassment notice had been served on Laing on August 17 last year, according to court documents.

On February 26, her attentions turned on a new target.

She had been to JB HiFi in Meridian mall and was served by a staff member.

For the next week, Laing went back to the store and loitered around the department where the victim worked.

On March 6, security staff asked her to stay away from the man ‘‘as she was making him feel uncomfortable’’.

She responded by confronting the victim and verbally abusing him before being asked to leave.

As she walked out, Laing said she was going to ‘‘kick his head in’’ and ‘‘bash his head in’’.

When police spoke to her about the fiasco, she explained she was angry.

Laing had her case transferred to Christchurch after pleading guilty to criminal harassment, threatening to kill and using threatening language, before the Dunedin District Court some months ago.

The defendant told the court she needed to learn to love herself and that she was not a mad or bad person.

‘‘I tend to get frustrated when people don’t understand me,’’ she said.

Defence counsel Trudi Aickin said her client feared there was no help available to her in prison for her ‘‘unique psychological issues’’.

‘‘She is desperately in need of counselling and treatment,’’ Ms Aickin said.

Judge David Saunders said although Laing did not intend to carry out the threats in the texts that were sent to the victim, she had meant for them to be taken seriously.

He imposed six months’ post-detention conditions and barred her from further contact with the victims.