Woman 'creeped out' on Mauao visit

A Tauranga woman spotted a man photographing her and a friend on Mauao's summit. Photo/file

A Tauranga woman who claims a man was acting suspiciously and taking photographs of her and a friend on Mauao's summit has spoken out about the incident.

The 33-year-old woman told the Bay of Plenty Times she was taking photographs with a friend at the bottom of the viewing stairs on the summit of the popular tourist site about 7.15pm on October 4 when the pair noticed a man acting suspiciously behind them.

"I had turned around, and he was staring directly at us but standing kind of behind a bush which I thought was a weird place to stand to look at the view if he was," the woman said.

"I walked up to the top where he was standing but a little bit behind him and watched him watching my mate's every move; it creeped me out."

The woman said she and her friend took photos at a few different locations on the summit, including off the track. Every time the woman turned around the man was about 50m away with his camera aimed at them, she said.

"Once I knew it was not just coincidence after he kept aiming it at us and obviously not a view behind us I said in a loud voice to my friend, 'That guy is following us', and he immediately turned and started walking the other way."

She said the man had not asked permission to photograph her and her friend and had felt "a little violated".

The women were at the summit for about 40 minutes before heading back down.

"By this time it was getting dark," she said. "We went back down the front way to the first set of stairs, and there was the guy standing there at the top of the stairs looking at us."

She said the man watched the women pass him and she had begun feeling "creeped out". When she turned around, the man was following them.

"I started to panic a little but did not want to freak my mate out, so I said to her, 'Let's jog down this time'."

The pair stopped to warn another female friend who was on her way up to the summit alone.

"We warned her about the guy and what he looked like, and then we kept going to the bottom with no sign of him after that," she said.

"It played on my mind all night about the safety of other women going up especially alone, so I called Tauranga police station the next morning to report it."

A police media spokeswoman said police were making inquiries into the incident and encourage anyone who may have experienced something similar on the Mount on Wednesday night to contact police.

Police encourage anyone who becomes concerned for their safety to contact 111 immediately.