A mother told a court how she confronted an alleged burglar she discovered in her home after returning from the park with her young children.

Rebecca Haak said Neville Woods, whom she described as well-built and muscular, was standing in her apartment after apparently breaking in through a window on New Year’s Day this year.

Mrs. Haak told Magistrates’ Court she moved to within about three feet of Woods and repeatedly said: “What the f*** are you doing in my house?”

After an argument that lasted about ten minutes, she said, Woods ran away.

Minutes later, Mrs. Haak’s brother-in-law Andrew Haak gave chase and claimed he tracked down Woods in some nearby bushes.

Police eventually arrested Woods and charged him with burglary.

Woods, 38, of Dunscombe Road, Warwick, who denies the offence, suggested he had never been inside the building. He claimed he had been taking a short cut through Mrs. Haak’s yard in Harvey Road, Paget.

Mrs. Haak, a chef, told the court she had returned home, with three young children in her car, shortly after 10 a.m.

“I saw the window pulled out,” she said. “It was really wide open, not the way you would leave it yourself. I was quite close to the front door.”

Pointing at Woods in the dock, she continued: “I saw Neville Woods in the house. He was standing right in front of me.

“First of all, I thought he was in the wrong house. He looked a little lost maybe.”

Asked by Crown counsel Nicole Smith how Woods behaved, Mrs. Haak said: “He just seemed stunned and after that perhaps obnoxious.

“I approached the front door and went to unlock it, at which point he started playing with the lock on the inside. I figured he was trying to keep me out of my own house.”

Mrs. Haak said she managed to unlock the door, and Woods stepped outside. She said she then confronted him.

She recalled: “I said: ‘What’s your name and where do you come from and what the f*** are you doing in my house,’ about two or three times.

“I wanted answers. At that time, I was confused as to what was going on.”

She said Woods then told her she “shouldn’t have left the window open”.

She continued: “I stepped towards him again because I couldn’t believe he was telling me it was my own fault for leaving the window open.

“After I stepped towards him he told me to back off. My little girl got out of the car at that time and was behind me. She didn’t understand what was going on. I moved to the side and he just took off down the road.”

Woods, representing himself, cross examined Mrs. Haak and said: “I’m going to suggest to you that when you saw me walking through your yard to take a short cut, that you got frightened and you are making up these allegations for some reason.”

“That’s ludicrous,” replied Mrs. Haak.

Andrew Haak told the court he had been sleeping upstairs when the alleged break-in happened.

He said after the alarm was raised he went looking for the intruder armed with a description provided by Mrs. Haak. He claimed he found Woods behind a gate in a nearby field.

Mr. Haak said: “I asked him: ‘What are you doing coming out of the bushes? Did you come from my house?’” He said he then chased the defendant to Cobbs Hill Road. The court heard Police arrested Woods shortly afterwards, before taking him to Hamilton Police Station.

Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo adjourned the trial to Monday, March 12, when Woods will give evidence. Woods was remanded back into custody.