TV mum's fears over stalker

Two police blunders have left an Auckland teacher fearing for her safety. Photo / Herald on Sunday

An Auckland teacher is living in fear of a serious criminal who faces charges for stalking her from behind bars after police gave him her details.

Police have launched a top-level probe into how the prison inmate was twice able to impersonate a police officer to obtain the mother-of-three's address, phone number and other personal information from a police computer database.

The man apparently became obsessed with her after seeing the teacher - an attractive woman in her 20s - on a television parenting documentary in November, while he was serving time in Waikeria Prison.

He phoned police from Waikeria, then again in March from maximum security Paremoremo, and both times was able to quote a code and get the personal information.

After months of calls and letters from the inmate, 19-year-old Elton John Taniora-Waitai, the woman has changed her name, her children's names, their schools and passports to escape his terrifying attentions. The Herald on Sunday has agreed not to name her for her own safety.

The teacher said she pleaded fruitlessly for help from the police and Corrections Department. It was only when she wrote directly to their minister, Judith Collins, that police had taken action.

Taniora-Waitai has now been charged with harassment and 10 counts of impersonating police, and is to appear in Auckland's Manukau District Court on June 16 for a status hearing.

Collins wrote to the teacher last month expressing her regret at the "profound distress" caused to the woman and her family - but the victim says she is waiting for a real apology for six months of "stuff ups".

After she changed her name and moved house, an officer promised they would not let the situation happen again.

Then she got a call in April from police apologising: "He's done it again". This time he had called the police line from Paremoremo, meant to be the country's most secure prison. Police had given Taniora-Waitai the woman's new name and new address, after Taniora-Waitai again pretended to be a police officer.

She feels scared and frightened, but "what cuts most" is police took up to six months to take her seriously.

"I pay my taxes, I do my best, I give my kids a good education, I've got good morals ... I just said please help me, I just want some help!"

"I burst into tears and then I rang the Minister of Police. I said I want to talk with Judith. They said she was not in the office today so I asked when she would be back? I was at my wits' end."

A spokesman from Police National Headquarters said security had been tightened. "We hope it never happens again. We've certainly put in place everything to try to prevent that."

Superintendent Mike Bush, who headed the top-level investigation, could not be reached last night for comment.

Ted Faleauto, lawyer for the accused, said his client had not indicated how he would plead.

The big issue, Faleauto said, was police and prison security. "You've got to wonder about police security. What if he had been a terrorist?"

The Department of Corrections took such alleged behaviour very seriously, said spokesman Lance Alexander. "We are pleased that the victim had the courage to make the offending known to us ..."