A mum has been left feeling scared and violated after a man was captured on CCTV entering her backyard and seemingly completing a sexual act.
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Cherie Smith-Collins thought she heard a noise in her backyard on Monday night but dismissed it as being one of her pets. However, she couldn't shake the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"I had the door locked that night, which wasn't usual," Ms Smith-Collins said. "My daughter looked through the footage ... as she said 'I can't see anything' a man came through the gate and into my yard. He was in the yard for nine minutes."
Ms Smith-Collins said she has been feeling shaken in the wake of the knowledge that someone was on her Turvey Park property and carrying out a sexual act.
"If I had walked out and seen him, I would have had a heart attack," she said.
Her daughter, Amanda Collins, said the CCTV footage shows the man walking around the backyard with his hand down his pants trying to look through windows and doors, which were covered by blinds.
"There is no way mum could defend herself, she is on two medications and she is not very mobile," she said. "We moved mum here after issues in Kooringal because we wanted her to be safe. Then this happens. It's a little bit scary for me to leave mum here on her own now.
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"He needs to be off the streets."
Ms Smith-Collins said she will be installing two more cameras and looking into sensor lights.
"If I didn't have them, I would never have known what this man had done," she said.
"I would encourage people to get them for their own security."
Ms Collins said what made the situation even scarier was the time stamp.
"It was 7pm," she said. "Children can still be out and about, people are having dinner at that time."
The mother-daughter duo said they were concerned for the community.
"I now have to lock myself in for my own safety ... it makes me a prisoner in my own home," Ms Smith-Collins said.
Police are currently investigating the incident and looking into whether it is related to a break-in at Turvey Park.
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