A Calton Hill family are furious Dunedin police have not laid charges after they woke during the night to find a stranger standing in their bedroom.
April Henderson and partner Sebastian Eden say they have been left traumatised after waking about 1am earlier this month to find a woman in her mid-20s watching them sleep.
"We had no idea who she was. We still don't. We've never seen her in our life,'' Miss Henderson said.
"Sebastian woke up and bolted out of bed and pinned her up against the wall.
"I was thinking, ‘oh crap, there's someone in our house,' and my first thought was for the kids.
"Sebastian held her down until the police came.
"We were asking her who she was, why she was in our bedroom, had one of our friends put her up to this, like it was a prank gone wrong or something.
"She just kept saying ‘sorry' and ‘how annoying is this'.''
Miss Henderson said police arrived quickly after the incident was reported, on Saturday, March 5.
Nothing was taken and her two children were not harmed.
"But that's the only good thing I have to say about the incident.
"Since then, the police have been absolutely crap.
"We're gobsmacked about the lack of communication. It's been a week now and still nothing.''
She said the woman was arrested, but when Miss Henderson rang police later in the day for an update on the situation, they told her the woman had not been charged.
During the past week, she has contacted the police several more times to get updates, and it appeared nothing had been done about the woman.
The incident had really rattled her family, she said.
"We were absolutely terrified. I was shaking.
"We're checking doors are locked 10 times before we go to bed at night now. We don't feel safe in our own home any more.''
In September last year, police did not lay charges after a Wakari woman was attacked by a 21-year-old intoxicated woman who vandalised her home during a drunken rampage.
Dunedin area commander Inspector Jason Guthrie said he was looking into the circumstances surrounding the Calton Hill case, and wanted to reassure the family and the Dunedin public that incidents such as these were treated with "the utmost seriousness''.
It was hoped an update on the case could be given today.
