Rotorua man charged after prowler incident, where man allegedly caught on camera outside family’s home

An alleged prowler was spotted creeping around a Rotorua mum’s home and peering into her windows for 40 minutes.

A Rotorua man has appeared in court after he was allegedly caught on camera prowling outside a woman’s home and peering into her windows for 40 minutes.

According to charge sheets, the man has been charged with performing an indecent act with intent to insult and entering a building without authority with intent to commit an imprisonable offence in that building.

The man appeared in Rotorua District Court this afternoon.

He did not enter a plea.

Defence lawyer Scott Mills said the man’s family were concerned about the possibility of “vigilante justice” and requested interim name suppression.

The interim suppression order was granted.

The man is next due to appear in the Rotorua District Court on January 30.

The alleged victim was at home with her children when she received a call from the neighbour’s landlord about 10.30pm on Saturday night.

“I don’t want to scare you,” the landlord said. “Lock your door right now.”

“He’s outside your kitchen window right now... Just lock your door and call the police. Act casual,” the landlord told her over the phone.

As the woman followed the instructions, her neighbour was filming and taking photos of the alleged prowler outside her window.

A man has been accused of prowling outside a Rotorua woman's home for 40 minutes.

“My two kids were with me,” the woman told the Rotorua Daily Post.

“My phone was on the bench on the charger. I’ve got a security camera that detects motion and alerts me but I wasn’t checking it.”

After locking the door, she grabbed her “babies” and huddled in the living room. Then she called the police.

“I was trying not to look because I was so scared. I didn’t know what was going on. But I didn’t want to see.”

The woman said she was on the phone with police for about 12 minutes. The whole time, she was very aware someone was still outside her home.

The woman said she messaged a friend asking for help, and the friend then drove to the woman’s house.

The friend said she wanted to be sure the man knew the woman was not alone.

“My intentions were to let him know there [were] people who would come and help,” they said.

Security camera footage later appeared to show the man had been outside her home for 40 minutes before she received the landlord’s call.

The episode made her “freak out” and she was now fearful for her children.

She urged other solo mothers to invest in security cameras with motion detectors and shut their windows.

“I don’t want another mother to have to go through this.”