Family's lack of support

Tauranga couple Lee and Stacey are struggling to get support after a home invasion. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

A Tauranga father and husband is frustrated at the lack of support his family is being given after a home invasion left his wife and two-year-old daughter traumatised.

Lee's wife Stacey, who have asked their surname be omitted for security purposes, feared for her life as well as that of her daughter, when a man broke into their home around 10pm on October 24.

Stacey was lying in her bed when she heard glass smashing. She went to investigate the noise and saw small holes in a window panel next to the door of her Welcome Bay home.

With phone in hand, Stacey called 111 and ran straight to her daughter's room.

The intruder managed to smash the window in the spare room and climb in – directly opposite her two-year-old daughter's room, where she had barricaded herself in.

'He tried to get into the room and said ‘I'm with the Illuminati, I've been sent here to kill you, I'm going to kill you'.

'He just kept trying to open the door and I was yelling at him to go away. My daughter was just screaming. She kept putting her head under the blankets, screaming.”
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The man was arrested by police and has since been remanded in the custody of the Henry Bennett Centre after having surgery to cuts he sustained when he broke into the house.

Nearly a month after the incident, the family is still picking up the pieces.

The victim says his daughter still wakes up in the middle of the night screaming.

He says he has been fobbed off by just about everyone he has turned to, to try and get support for his family.

'One day my wife called Victim Support and got told ‘I'm a bit busy at the moment, can you google grief counselling?'

'We have been to the doctor and put on ACC, then they (ACC) have sent a letter back saying because Stacey wasn't actually stabbed in the home invasion they are not going to give any grief counselling.

'Which I think is a bit rats, because my daughter wakes up about very hour on the hour still, and my wife, as soon as it gets dark, is sedated so she can sleep.” The couple is even waiting to hear back from Tauranga City Mayor Stuart Crosby to see if there is anything he can do to help.

'I am trying to push any buttons I can to get help for my family and it seems to be falling on deaf ears.

Victim Support chief executive Kevin Tso says he deals with victims in the initial instance of the crime.

It's not generally their policy to comment on individual cases. They support people affected by trauma or crime by providing emotional and practical support, information, financial assistance, referral to other support services, and are advocates for the rights of victims.

'It's widely accepted that victims of crime who are not provided adequate support in the aftermath are at greater risk of experiencing things such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and repeat victimisation.”

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