Jenny Chapman warned others about a creepy intruder who talked to her daughter through her bedroom window. Photo / Mead Norton
Jenny Chapman warned others about a creepy intruder who talked to her daughter through her bedroom window. Photo / Mead Norton
Police won't be making any arrests relating to a man who tapped on a child's bedroom window in the early hours of the morning at a Tikitere property near Rotorua.
Senior Sergeant Mike Membery confirmed to the Rotorua Daily Post this week they had spoken to a man and that all relevant inquiries had been completed. He said no arrests would be made.
Jenny Chapman, whose family has been left traumatised as a result of the incident, has told the Rotorua Daily Post police had told her they would instead refer the man to mental health services.
When the Rotorua Daily Post asked police if the man had been referred to mental health services, Membery said police couldn't confirm anything for privacy reasons.
Chapman, whose family live at Tikitere, was woken in the early hours of July 1 by her 3-year-old daughter saying there was a man downstairs in her room.
The mother took her daughter back to her bedroom, which she shared with her 6-year-old sister, to settle her back to sleep as it was common for her to say there were creatures in her room.
She turned off the lights, told her daughter to get back into bed and went to close the bedroom curtains after she noticed they were uncharacteristically open. But she found the window open and a man's head suddenly popped through it and said "hello".
The man told Chapman not to be scared and said he had been driving in the area and something told him to turn into their house. He was babbling about being on the highway to hell and asked her if she believed in the Bible, Chapman said.
He said he had tried other houses but theirs was the only one with lights on.
Chapman yelled at the man to get out and called the police.
A neighbour captured CCTV footage of a man driving down their street in a car shortly before the incident. The man was tooting his horn and slowed down at the property's driveway and looked down. The footage was sent to the police.
Jenny Chapman with her two daughters, Anneliese, 3, and Hope, 6. Photo / Mead Norton
Chapman told the Rotorua Daily Post this week the police had been in touch with her about their progress.
"Police told me they are going for a wrap-around approach."
Chapman said she wasn't opposed to the police's solution if it was the best thing for the man to ensure he didn't offend again.
However, she had serious concerns about him being referred to an already "swamped" mental health system.
"My concern is that our mental health system is so overwhelmed. I work with children and the system a lot and I know how hard it is getting any help for rangatahi."
She said there were long wait times and she wondered what would happen to the man in the meantime.
"I want what is best for him and the community and if getting mental health support is best then so be it ... as long as there is the help there for his person to access but if there is no help there, it could happen again to anybody."
Chapman said they had installed an extensive security system around their home which had helped ease their minds. Her children were now doing better but she had been proactive to seek counselling for historic reasons.
She said her 7-year-old daughter died in 2014 from a brain tumour and the shock of what happened last month had brought back traumatic feelings.
"My kids being threatened is triggering for me ... My children are under no illusions they are safe from bad things happening and I saw this as another way of my kids being threatened."
Chapman said the counselling was helping a lot. She now hoped the man involved would get the help he needed.
