A woman is warning others to be alert after a traumatic Tinder date resulted in a man creating fake WhatsApp messages and lying to a court after being charged with rape. A Hamilton jury ultimately couldn’t decide if Daniel Laidlaw was guilty of the rape charge, instead coming to a hung jury verdict, with police later deciding not to pursue a retrial. However, they found him guilty on charges of fabricating evidence and perjury after he created false messages to try to change the narrative of what happened in an inner-city hotel nearly five years ago. Laidlaw was initially successful, and his deceit resulted in the woman “Sara” (not her real name) go from being viewed as a potential victim to someone who had made a false complaint. Laidlaw was jailed and maintains he’s done nothing wrong and hasn’t shown any remorse. Now, Sara has spoken to Open Justice to share her story about meeting Laidlaw, the “love-bombing”, the lies, and the “monumental impact” it has had on her life. ‘We were just going to meet for ice cream’ It all started on Tinder. The victim and Laidlaw, who was living in Rotorua, swiped right on each other in April 2021, and instantly began chatting. After a day or two, they began organising a date for the upcoming Friday night at a hotel in Hamilton, but she says she had no particular view about whether sex would result. “We were just going to meet up for ice cream and wander around the city. “He had booked a hotel room ... but I said I would see how I felt,” she said. In outlining the facts of that night during Laidlaw’s sentencing in April last year, Judge Tini Clark said sex did take place, with the victim then leaving to get emergency contraception. The next day, Sara went to police, alleging she had been raped, giving them screenshots of their communications and undergoing a medical examination. Police did not ask to examine her phone, and after giving the information, she deleted the app. The following day, she gave a video interview, and in July 2021, Laidlaw was arrested and charged with rape. Around this time, Laidlaw lost his job, his mother suffered a stroke, and there was another Covid-19 lockdown. Recalling the facts from the trial, Judge Clark said by September 21, Laidlaw had created a screen recording of a fake WhatsApp conversation. The screen recording suggested that immediately after the victim left the hotel, there was a conversation between the pair about her getting emergency contraception, and the condom breaking. He also alleged the victim stole some of his property and that he didn’t wish to hear from her again. A report had been sought by police to establish the legitimacy of the chat, and it was initially deemed real. It wasn’t until some months later that Laidlaw’s forgery was discovered. Judge Clark said the fake chat had “quite a significant impact” on the police investigation into the rape charge. “It certainly served to make the investigation into that matter far more difficult for police,” the judge said. By March 9, 2022, police had decided the victim should be spoken to, and she was. “She said [Laidlaw’s forged] conversation simply didn’t occur. “She did not recall the content of it, and her phone was surrendered to police.” Sara was interviewed again two days later and then suspected of making a false complaint. That sent her into “somewhat of a tailspin”. After denying the conversations, she then began second-guessing herself, and thinking that perhaps they had occurred, the judge said. “Really, what I took from her evidence at trial was that this was a period of utter confusion for her, given what she knew had occurred,” Judge Clark said. One of Daniel Laidlaw's Tinder profile pictures from around the time he met the victim in 2021. Photo / Supplied Meanwhile, the defendant swore an affidavit to have the rape charge dismissed, relying on the fake WhatsApp messages. Laidlaw’s fraud was eventually discovered by a police officer reviewing the messages for a third time. J...