A Rotorua mum was told by her neighbour's landlord to lock her door after a strange man was seen peeping through her kitchen window. Photo: Supplied via NZ Herald
A "sick" prowler had been creeping around a Rotorua mum's home and peering into her windows for 40 minutes before she received a phone call that could have come from a horror movie.
"He's outside your kitchen window right now ... Just lock your door and call the police. Act casual."
Malfroy Road resident Jasena Sayers Kiriona was cleaning up her one-year-old's spilt milo when her phone rang on Saturday night.
Thinking it was strange her neighbour's landlord was calling at 10.30pm, Kiriona picked up.
"I don't want to scare you," the landlord said. "Lock your door right now."
Moved to tears recalling the events, Kiriona said the landlord's next words horrified her.
"My tenants next door are watching a man and he's outside your kitchen window right now," the landlord said.
"Just lock your door and call the police. Act casual."
As Kiriona followed the instructions, her neighbour was filming and taking photos of the prowler outside Kiriona's window, hoping the police could use the footage later.
"My two kids were with me," Kiriona said.
"My phone was on the bench on the charger. I've got a security camera that detects motion and alerts me but I wasn't checking it."
After locking the door, she grabbed her "babies" and huddled in the living room. Then she called the police.
"I was trying not to look because I was so scared. I didn't know what was going on. But I didn't want to see him."
Kiriona said she was on the phone with police for about 12 minutes. The whole time, she was very aware that the strange man was still outside her home.
"He started getting loud. He started trying the doorknob. I could hear it," she said.
"He started tapping on the windows. He didn't say anything. He was just tapping and it was just horrible."
A still from security camera footage of the man waving in the kitchen window. Photo: Supplied via NZ Herald
'I confronted him, I screamed and swore'
Kiriona said she messaged an older friend asking for help.
The friend, who did not want to be named, told the Rotorua Daily Post she had just arrived home when she received Kiriona's text.
"[Kiriona's text] said there was a man outside her kitchen window and he was peeping in and [doing an indecent act]," the friend said.
She drove to the house and, as she turned into the drive, "I saw him".
"He was just crouched down in the bushes and he had no t-shirt on and he was just crouched down looking at me."
The friend said the man jumped to the side and stood up.
"I got out of my car and I confronted him. I screamed and swore."
The friend said she wanted to be sure the "disgusting" man knew Kiriona was not alone.
"My intentions were to let him know there are people who would come and help," the friend said.
'If I was younger I would have tackled him'
The woman said the prowler took off running up Malfroy Road, still half-naked.
"I told [Kiriona] to tell the police he was running," she said.
"Then I just couldn't help myself. I drove up Malfroy Road to see if I could find him so that the police could come to me and catch him but he disappeared.
"If I was younger I would have tackled him. I was not having it."
The woman said she hoped the man was not "doing this" to other young mums with children.
"It was sick."
A prowler left this note on Jasena Sayers Kiriona's kitchen window. Photo: Supplied via NZ Herald
Prowler left a note, watched kids
Back at the house, when Kiriona stood up, she saw a note taped to her window.
"Hey cute. What's your number?" it said.
Kiriona said the note made her young daughter "freak out".
"When I looked back at the cameras he had been watching for a long time," Kiriona said.
Kiriona said the man had been outside her house for 40 minutes before she received the landlord's call.
"He was watching my kids. I don't know who he was waving to."
Kiriona said Saturday's events had made her "freaked out" and fearful, especially for her 7-year-old daughter's safety.
"She normally takes the bins out to the road and I've stopped her from doing that now because I'm too scared."
Kiriona said her daughter was staying with a relative for now.
Kiriona had borrowed her grandfather's dog to guard the property, and her friends and family have been in and out of the house. Some were taking turns staying in their cars on the road to keep watch.
"I'm just lucky the video caught him because if I tried to tell people about this they wouldn't believe me. It's like something out of a movie."
Mum's advice: Shut your windows
Kiriona said she recommended solo mothers or "anyone who doesn't have much protection" invest in cameras with motion detection and phone alert functions.
"I want to tell them to shut their windows. It's been hot. Turn the aircon on," Kiriona said.
"I don't want another mother to have to go through this."
A spokesperson said police had received a report in relation to an incident that occurred at around 10.30pm on Saturday.
"Police have made a number of inquiries to identify the man responsible and these inquiries are ongoing," the spokesperson said.
Anyone with information that could assist police was asked to call 105 and quote file number 240114/9590.
This story was originally published by the New Zealand Herald.