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An Auckland woman has been left traumatised after a late-night home invasion where she confronted a stranger crawling across her living room.

The woman, who did not want to be named, told the Herald a man jumped over a high brick fence and opened a sliding door at the front of her Mt Albert property, before crawling through the kitchen towards the lounge at 2.30am on Sunday.

At the time a 14-year-old girl was staying on the couch in the room and was disturbed by the unusual sight.

“He was on his stomach, belly-crawling along the kitchen, making his way into the lounge.

“But she spotted him out the corner of her eye and she ran to me.”

Alarmed, the girl burst outside to alert the woman, who was preparing items to sell at a flea market.

The burglar was spotted by a teenage girl who was staying over at the house, the woman said. Photo / 123rf

“We ran in and saw him and screamed at him to get out, and ... would you believe I even chased him?

“I just yelled at him to get out and I wanted to see where he went.”

The woman then followed the intruder down a neighbouring street, before he ran off with her handbag and car keys that had been snatched from inside the home.

Police said they were in the early stages of assessing a theft at a home address in Wesley on Sunday morning.

“The burglary is believed to have occurred at around 2.15am on Sunday, December 15, and was reported to police later that day,” a spokesperson said.

“We are in the process of determining what has been stolen, and to identify those believed responsible.”

Burglary ‘retriggered’ trauma

The home invasion rekindled long-forgotten trauma for the woman, who usually lives alone and described bursting into tears at home the day after the attack.

“It’s just sort of retriggered a lot of things I’ve put to bed.

“Now you find yourself listening to all the things that go bump in the night.”

The woman had a clear message for fellow residents.

“Lock your doors. Lock your doors. Just double-check them at night, because the opportunists are out there that are just going to take advantage if they can.

“It’s coming up [to] holiday time and it’s been really hot lately and people tend to leave their windows or doors a bit ajar.”

She said the imminent holiday season may result in more people attempting similar burglaries, but thefts and car break-ins were already “regular occurrences” in her area.