A man was found asleep on a child's bed wearing clothes belonging to her and her mother after a dramatic police chase through Auckland yesterday.
Hannah Rogers, 12, said she found the man sleeping in her bedroom with an empty bottle of wine next to him when she arrived home yesterday about 4pm.
She tiptoed out of the room and ran to a neighbour's house to raise the alarm, she said.
"I opened up the door to my house, went inside and just did all the usual stuff to drop my stuff off. Then I went to my room and saw this man sleeping on my bed.
"I was really scared, I tried not to make a sound or wake him up because I was afraid he would hurt me."
Her mother, Nicole Perry, was at work at the time and praised her daughter's actions.
"It was quick thinking for her just to back out of the house quietly and go to the police."
Police woke the man and arrested him. The 36-year-old Northland man appeared at the North Shore District Court today and was remanded in custody. He was granted name suppression by Judge Lawrence Hinton overnight until he is assigned a lawyer.
He will appear in court again tomorrow morning.
Waitemata Police arrested the man yesterday afternoon after he allegedly stole one car and tried to carjack others during the chase that damaged vehicles and caused pedestrians to take cover.
The man faced 11 charges at the North Shore District Court today including entering a property without consent, taking a vehicle without claim, theft of car keys, dangerous driving and failing to stop after an accident.
He will appear again tomorrow.