In the early hours of Monday morning, Upper Hutt resident Tara Simonyi woke up to the sound of a door handle creak to find a man standing in her hallway.
The 30-year-old said the intruder, dressed in black clothing, was suddenly startled and pushed her.
“I don’t think he was expecting to see me, he shoved me, I fell over and hit my head and then he left,” Simonyi said.
Shortly afterwards, she said she called the police, and they arrived within minutes and started gathering evidence.
“I constantly feel a sick and anxious feeling in my stomach, you should feel safe to sleep in your own home without someone creeping around,” she said.
Just across the road, 24-year-old Madison Messer says she experienced a similar incident on December 17.
Messer said her partner went to the gym at 5.15am and left the door unlocked as she would usually wake up shortly afterwards.
Around 15 minutes later, Messer said she woke up to a man standing at the end of her bed, dressed in black clothing, including a mask.
“I started screaming at him to get out of my house,” she said.
Messer said the man left and as she called the police, she felt "shaken".
The week before, she said she’d noticed her perfume bottle and the keys to her back door went missing.
“I thought someone has been in my house, so I got the locks changed,” she said.
In a statement to 1 NEWS, Victim Support spokesperson Dr Petrina Hargrave said it's common for victims of crime to feel violated and anxious after incidents like Simonyi and Messer had experienced.
“I feel violated, it’s really gross,” Simonyi said.
“This is meant to be my safe space, I can’t sleep properly,” Messer said.
A police spokesperson said in a statement people need to be vigilant.
“Lock your doors, install an alarm system and keep valuables out of sight,” a police spokesperson said.
Both Simonyi and Messer have taken precautionary measures by changing their locks.
Police told 1 NEWS investigations into the incident involving Simonyi are ongoing.
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