“She was followed by a man with shoulder-length hair driving an old, rusty, beige van.
“As he pulled up next to her she saw that he was naked and touching himself.
“She didn’t get a plate number, unfortunately, she was obviously panicking and running away.”
The family has been living in the area for eight years and the incident was a first.
“She ran into my mother-in-law’s place, which is directly across the road from us.
“For me, it’s completely out of the blue. We’ve never experienced anything like this.”
After his daughter was home safe, the dad scoured the streets for the man.
“I was shocked, yeah, pretty upset for her,
“I actually jumped in my car and then tried to look for the van or the guy, [but I] couldn’t find him.”
The girl had been “shaken” and too upset to go to school the next day.
“My partner took her to school and dropped off her younger brother, and then she was on her way to school, and she just broke down, so she’s back home now.”
Detective Senior Sergeant Martin Friend confirmed police were investigating “a man doing an indecent act in the Epsom area”.
“A van was parked on Gladwin Rd at around 3.35pm, when the male occupant began doing the act towards a student walking past.”
The van began moving in the same direction as the student and was last seen travelling down Lewin Rd. The driver did not get out of the vehicle.
Friend said police would like to hear from anyone with further information about the van or its driver.
“It has been described as an older style van, which was light coloured.
“The driver has been described as a Caucasian male, aged between 40 and 50. He was slim build, with blonde hair down to his neckline.”
The father didn’t think there were any “overt safety concerns” in the immediate area, but the incident was particularly concerning as there were several schools in the area.
“I think this creep is just an opportunist.
“But by and large, I wouldn’t let a 14-year-old girl walk down, say, Queen Street by herself in the afternoon.”
He felt there was “not much” they could do other than contact police about the “opportunistic, predatory behaviour”.
“Right now we probably don’t want to let the kids walk around by themselves [anymore], but you know that is, at the moment, I think understandable knee-jerk reaction.
“We’ve never felt unsafe like this.”
If you have information contact police on 105 using the reference number 250212/5501 or anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.
Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald, focusing on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the NZ Herald masthead in 2021 as a reporter for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei.
