An Auckland mother's car was punched in a bizarre and unprovoked attack by a man while he ate a pie - and she's since learned it's not the first time it's happened.
The North Shore woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, has now reported the incident to police - but it's left her shaken, and she now no longer feels safe enough to drive with her doors unlocked.
She told Newshub she was about to drop off her five-year-old at Birkenhead Primary School at about 8am on Friday morning when an "agitated" man standing on the footpath approached the car.
"He was probably a good 15 metres from the driveway. He came over, punched the car, then buggered off," she said.
"It freaked my daughter out - she called him a bully because it's Pink Shirt Day and that's what she's learning about at the moment."
The woman says her car's wing mirror was damaged in the attack, with the electrics temporarily failing.
But she's hopeful the man's decision to buy a pie that early in the day could lead to police tracking him down.
"He had a pie in one hand and a backpack over the other shoulder... It was really weird," she said.
"But if he was eating a pie they might have CCTV cameras around there and I'd recognise him if I saw him. He must have come out of the bakery."
The woman is adamant she gave him no reason to target her.
"I can't understand why he was so skittish... I didn't pull in front of him or anything like that. It was literally just unprovoked - out of nowhere this guy just comes and punches the car."
After posting about the experience on social media, she says she's since heard from a couple of other women who've had similar experiences very close by.
"This other lady messaged me saying a couple of nights ago, just up the road, a guy came and did the same - punched her car and ripped off her rear window-wiper. And the description she gave me was very similar to him."
A third woman also commented on the post, saying something similar had happened to her a couple of months prior.
A police spokesperson told Newshub that while they had received a report from the woman on Friday, they weren't "immediately aware of similar incidents occurring in that area recently".
Anyone who finds themselves in a situation in which they feel unsafe is advised to contact police immediately on 111. People can also report matters where their property has been damaged after the fact by calling 105.
