Police say the creepy clown fad has to stop. Photo / File
A Dunedin teenager cowered in her bedroom for an hour after a group of armed clowns told her they were going to kill her.
Police attended a Turnbull St house after 4pm last Tuesday when a teenager reported being terrorised by a person dressed as a clown.
The victim, Cee-Jay Higgan, told the Otago Daily Times the terrifying attack happened shortly after she arrived home from Kaikorai Valley College.
The 16-year-old heard banging at her door while getting changed in her bedroom.
"I started getting a bit freaked out," she said.
She approached the front-door of the Brockville home and "all I could see was a clown at the door holding an axe".
She locked all the doors to the house.
About 20 minutes later, the costumed person returned with one other person dressed as a clown and shortly after two others arrived and began banging on the door again.
When the noise stopped she exited her room and saw the group had made their way down the side of the house to a back sliding glass door.
"They said: 'I'm going to kill you'," she said.
"One of them had a knife and there was another one with an axe. One of them was in this checkered kind of top and the rest were in clown colours."
All wore masks.
"When there was no knocking or anything I looked out my window and saw them running down the road to the community garden," Cee-Jay said.
She called police and remained in her room until her grandmother arrived home about 4pm.
She was left shaken and did not know why she was targeted or who was behind the attack.
A police spokeswoman said police could not find any of those involved.
News of the teenager's ordeal followed the arrest of a 22-year-old in Dunedin's student quarter on Sunday night. The man was dressed as a clown and frightening students in Castle St.
The "creepy clown" craze has been linked to threats and violence in the United States, Australia and Britain. A Hamilton woman was attacked by two men dressed as clowns this month.
The police spokeswoman said she hoped Sunday's arrest provided a wake-up call to those performing the pranks and police wanted the incidents to stop.
"We need the fad to go away now," she said.
A man known to the victim has been charged with assault.