Teacher's life lived in fear

Two police blunders have left an Auckland teacher fearing for her safety. Photo / Herald on Sunday

Despite moving house and changing names to evade her jailed stalker, an Auckland teacher lives her life in fear.

She is scared to answer the phone. Every night, she sleeps with her children in her bedroom because it has a lock on the door.

She feels terrified, unsafe, and that prison and police authorities have put her family at risk, she told the Herald on Sunday.

She has had no contact from Victim Support and has been saving her "humble teaching salary" to move, perhaps to another city.

After the stalker allegedly twice tracked her down by impersonating a police officer, she doesn't know who to trust. She is scared to talk to officers investigating the alleged harassment, and insists on dealing with them only by email.

"The scary thing is, I'm not going to feel safe anywhere - and when will it stop?

"I keep thinking ... if he can do this much damage to a family from inside jail, then what about outside of jail?"

She has been on leave from her teaching job since April and is not due back till later in the year. "I couldn't teach. I was in shutdown mode because I was so upset. I found it so hard ... he kept calling me at school.

"Police are supposed to protect people like me - I've absolutely lost faith in the police."

She has tried to keep the ordeal from her children: "I have to be strong for them."

But, with no idea what the offender looks like, she is constantly fearful. "I used to be so trusting. I'm now really paranoid and it's horrible."

She has been told there is an alert on her name if police want details from their system.

"But I feel they are not fixing the problem, they are just bandaging my problem."