Woman wakes to find man taking her baby

A Palmerston North woman woke to find an unknown man about to walk out the door with her five-week-old son in his arms.

Katrina Thomson believes it was a mother's intuition that woke her.

"I woke up and he was walking out of the lounge with my son -- I stayed calm and begged him to give him back," she said.

"I feel completely violated. To have to negotiate to get your child back is just wrong."

Police, who have yet to find the intruder, are convinced he was a harmless drunk.

The Sunday morning incident happened when Ms Thomson, 22-year-old mother of two, was staying with her partner's parents at their house sleeping on a mattress in the lounge.

Her son Luukas was asleep in a basinet at her feet.

She said she woke just before 3am and saw a man, who was reeking of booze, walking towards the door with her son cradled in his arms.

"The first thing I thought was to get my child back. I didn't want to alarm him because I thought he might drop Luukas or run out the door."

The man, described as white, in his mid-30s and with a heavy English accent, asked Ms Thomson if the baby was hers.

"He said 'is this your baby?' I said 'yes' and he asked me if I was sure it was my baby. Then he told me he (the baby) needed a feed."

After a couple of minutes he walked over and handed Luukas back to her.

He then asked her if she breast fed or bottle fed him, what his name was and if his name was from the Bible.

"I kept telling him he had to leave. Then he went and used the toilet.

"(I thought) mate, do you want to make yourself a cup of tea while you're at it?

"When I heard the tap running I bolted for my mother-in-law's room."

Her mother-in-law asked the man to leave.

"He started getting aggro and saying 'No! I have to see the lady and the baby'. When she finally got him out of the house and locked the door I ran back to the lounge and woke up my partner."

He had been sleeping next to her but hadn't woken when Ms Thomson was talking to the intruder.

"He got up straight away and went out to look for him but he just disappeared. Police were there in seconds with police dogs but they couldn't find him."

Police told her the intruder was probably drunk and had no intention of taking her baby.

Constable Raymond Lowe said police searched the area but they are not overly concerned.

"When the alarm first went up it sounded pretty bad, but after the initial panic it sounds like he was an absolute drunk."

- nzpa