Naked fear in Springvale | Manawatu-Wanganui News | Local News in Manawatu-Wanganui

A  shocking experience  has left an 18-year-old woman steering clear of a small Springvale park - even in daylight.

Gemma Lewis and two friends, all early childhood education students, were walking home together to Gemma's  home  after a night out in the city last Friday.

As they got to Spurdle St, a naked man with a T-shirt tied on his head came towards them from the small park on the corner of Treadwell St.

Shocked, the three young women told him to go away but he began following them.

The man followed the trio for a few minutes, until they threatened to call the police. The man then ran off along Treadwell St.

"We yelled at him to go away or we'd call the police. The trouble was we didn't have a phone - our phones were all flat," Gemma said.

The teenagers ran  to Gemma's nearby house, where they were staying the night.

The next morning they told Gemma's mum, Jo Lewis, about the incident.  She was horrified.

"I told them they should have woken me up and I would have called the police immediately."

Mrs Lewis said her first thought was that there could be someone hanging around the neighbourhood and  police needed to know immediately for the safety of everyone in the area.

The police might have been able to track any other incidents involving  the man, she said.

The three described the  man  as white "all over" and very skinny.

"If there is naked man walking about at night, people do need to know about it," Mrs Lewis said.

 Because it was a nasty incident involving young women, Mrs Lewis decided she had to do something, so wrote to the Chronicle.

"I thought it was very important - a naked man roaming the streets approaching young girls, it's just not safe."

On  Saturday afternoon the three girls went to the Whanganui Police Station to lay a complaint.

But Mrs Lewis says what happened at the police station left  her dumbfounded.

A female police officer asked the girls if they knew the man. When they said they did not, she said she couldn't help them and that she had more pressing issues, Mrs Lewis said.

Gemma said: "She told us if it happens again to call the police straight away. It seemed like she didn't want to know about what we had told her. It was pretty awful." 

Mrs Lewis has sent a letter of complaint to  Whanganui police.

Last night Senior Sergeant Dave Kirby said police were sorry the three had gained the impression police were not interested in the incident.

"We will be following up this matter with the girls in an effort to identify who this person is.

"We are, however, frustrated that we were not rung at the time it happened so we could locate the person concerned. It was hard to find the person when it is 12 hours later we are told about it," he said.

"If someone has something like this happen to them, please contact police at the time so we have the best chance of catching them."