Elderly pair terrorised in own home

A series of strange events is leaving an elderly couple wondering whether they’re being targeted or just have bad luck.

In late winter an unknown male ran onto their deck and smashed their bedroom window.

Months later, their front gate was padlocked shut twice overnight - effectively locking them in.

The Papatoetoe couple, who asked not to be identified for safety reasons, say they feel uneasy about the two nighttime incidents.

They recall an unnerving incident on a Sunday night where they had heard loud noises before they knew someone was on their property

‘‘We’d just gone to bed, then a young guy was yelling ‘wake up! wake up!’,’’ the man says. ‘‘He just smashed the window and left.’’

The couple quickly called police, but he soon ‘‘vanished’’ before they arrived.

They had to fork out a few hundred dollars to get their bedroom window replaced.

But the strange events didn’t stop there.

In early September the couple were about to head out on a Sunday morning when they noticed the front gated padlocked.

There was a slight issue - the front gate never had a padlock on it.

‘‘We were stuck, we couldn’t leave,’’ the husband says.

Again they called police. Local firefighters had to be called to cut through the thick padlock.

But it didn’t stop there. The couple’s gate was padlocked again in early October.

Asked whether they had provoked someone to prank them, the couple were adamant they hadn’t done so.

The couple say they know most of their neighbours, even though most keep to themselves.

They recalled other times in the past when odd items had been stolen from the front of their prop- erty and surrounding houses.

But other than that, they’ve never experienced anything like it after living in that part of South Auckland for 30 years.

The husband wanted to sell up and leave the area, but so far has been convinced to stay by his wife.

They praised police and firefighters who had attended both times.

‘‘The police told us to call at any time if anything like that happened again or if someone was on the property,’’ he says.

Call 111 in an emergency or to report suspicious activity.