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Home / New Zealand

Second terrified driver sees man on Auckland road waving at her same day as man gets on bonnet

Natasha Gordon
By Natasha Gordon
Live News Reporter·NZ Herald·
17 May, 2025 10:18 PM4 mins to read

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A terrified woman said she saw a man in the middle of the road waving at her in Auckland. Photo / 123rf

A terrified woman said she saw a man in the middle of the road waving at her in Auckland. Photo / 123rf

  • Two women have had encounters with a suspicious man in Pakūranga, who was approaching motorists in the dark.
  • The first woman drove about 3km with the man on her bonnet after he tried to get into her car.
  • Police conducted inquiries in the area but couldn’t locate the man or the vehicle he entered.

A motorist says she drove past a person standing in the middle of the road waving at her minutes before a man leapt on to the bonnet of another car, staying there for 3km.

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Herald she was driving home from a night shift in Pakūranga on Thursday around 5.50am along Butley Rd when she saw “a figure in the middle of the road”.

Yesterday, another woman told the Herald she drove about 3km in the same area with a stranger on her bonnet after he attempted to get into her car during her commute at 6.05am on the same morning.

That driver said it was the “scariest thing that’s ever happened to me in my life".

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Police said they have no updates into their investigation after they attended the scene and carried out extensive inquiries. The man has not been able to be located.

The latest woman to come forward said she was travelling on Butley Rd, heading to Prince Regent Drive, when she saw a figure.

She said she had to use the high-beam lights and he was waving at her.

She said she thought he was 5’9″ tall and wearing all black but “I couldn’t clearly see his face”.

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The woman said she honked twice at the man.

“I was scared, but as the saying goes, don’t talk to strangers.

“For safety reasons and with no martial arts experience, I didn’t stop.”

She said she was okay, but is still scared when she passes that road.

The other woman, who also wished to remain anonymous, told the Herald she was on her way to work just after 6am when the incident occurred.

As she drove past Farm Cove Intermediate School, she said she could see a man standing in the middle of the road.

“All I saw, because it was very dark at that time of the morning ... was this figure standing in the middle of the road.”

She said she stopped because she thought it was a person walking across the road.

“He went straight to my passenger door, front door, and tried to get in the car.”

The woman said she was lucky because she locked her car doors “religiously” before setting off on journeys, for safety.

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The woman said that because the man couldn’t get in her car, he climbed on to the bonnet while she drove around a roundabout at the bottom of Glenmore Rd.

She said she was trying to “get him to sort of slide off the bonnet, but that didn’t work” and braked hard about four times.

The woman told the Herald she was trying to “dislodge him from the front, but I couldn’t and the whole time he’s kind of looking at me and sort of saying, ‘please, please’.”

The woman said that by the time she got to the top of Glenmore Rd, she had phoned 111 and was talking with police while the man was still on the bonnet.

The woman told the police where she was located so they could help.

She said she got to the corner of Tī Rākau Drive and Pakūranga Rd when the man told her he was going to get off, “so he slid off the bonnet”.

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She confirmed the man was not hurt during the ordeal and came to her window and said “thank you”.

She said the man was on her car for about “seven to eight minutes tops”.

The woman said the police asked her where the man went, and she said “he’s on this corner, but he’s now approaching another car, and at that stage my light went green, so I left and drove, very scared going to work”.

The woman said police rang her and said the man got into another car.

She drove to work because she was too scared to turn around, she said.

The woman said she has been “a nervous wreck” since the incident and would change the route she takes to work from now on.

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Police said they received a report at 6.11am on Thursday, May 15, of a man acting suspiciously.

Police said there were no reports of threats or damage to the complainant’s vehicle.

“The male got off the vehicle on Pakūranga Rd and was reported to have been picked up by another vehicle.”

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