A British expat living in Australia has told of how she caught her ‘creepy’ roommate spying on her when she was in the bathroom.
April and her boyfriend had moved into a rental property in Queensland with four other housemates, which included another couple and two older men.
As there were four bedrooms and two bathrooms, each couple shared a bathroom with one of the male housemates.
April said Jack*, aged in his late 30s or 40s, was a ‘big tech guy’ who she thought was ‘smart’ and was always talking about his love for computers and his tech job.
‘He was a bit strange but we didn’t really talk much, we co-existed pretty peacefully and he minded his business,’ the 23-year-old said in her video.
‘He shared a bathroom with the other couple on the other side of the kitchen and my bathroom was shared with my boyfriend and the other man on this side of the living room.’
The six housemates’ living arrangements seemed to be going normally until April began to suspect that the Australian man may be spying on her.
‘My intuition kicks in,’ she said.
British expat April has told of how she caught her ‘creepy’ Aussie roommate spying on her when she was in the bathroom
‘It’s insane, I said to my boyfriend, “Listen, I don’t feel safe. I feel like I’m being watched in the bathroom”.
‘I’m such a dramatic person and I’m constantly afraid. I’ve had this feeling for weeks, but I thought I must be crazy.’
As her boyfriend headed off to work one morning, the hospitality worker noticed something ‘weird’ when she was using the laundry room, which was outside Jack’s bedroom.
‘I go into the laundry room, he follows me in and he’s going into the bathroom and he says, “Oh you can come in if you want” and I said, “That’s OK”,’ she recalled.
‘I thought that was weird. I texted my boyfriend and told him that Jack just said I can come into the bathroom with him.’
April said she may have misheard him so she didn’t think much of his remark again.
One thing she pointed out was that their home had creaky wooden floors so she could always hear Jack’s movements as he was a heavy-footed walker.
‘He walked around, boom, boom, boom, boom, you could hear him. At 5 o’clock in the morning you could hear him, 9pm at night, you could hear him.
‘Everywhere he went it sounded like something was being dropped with every step.’
Her gut instinct was finally validated when she caught Jack peeping through a tiny hole in the bathroom door, which also had a gap at the bottom ‘big enough to fit a foot’.
‘I go to the bathroom and I’m naked… I’m about to get in the shower. Then I hear boom, boom, boom, boom and I see something just underneath the door,’ she said.
‘I feel like I’m being watched in the bathroom. I look over at the door and I think can I see him through that hole. I think, “No, I’m being dramatic.”
‘I remember saying to myself, “I’m being insane – he’s not looking through the door.”‘
Her living arrangements seemed to be going normally until she began to suspect that her Australian housemate may be spying on her
She even sent a text to her cousin, joking: ‘I think my housemate’s watching me through the door haha LOL.” I thought, “OK it sounds insane like he obviously isn’t”.’
April said she then heard the footsteps move away – but two minutes later, the loud thumping noise came closer to her bathroom door.
‘This time I can see his feet underneath the door,’ she explained.
‘Then, I see his eyeball through the hole. Me and him are looking at each other. Immediately my heart dropped, I’m petrified.
‘I shouted, “What the f*** do you think you’re doing?” He ran, he dashed down the corridor. At this point, my eyes start blacking out.’
As she was home alone, April frantically called her boyfriend.
‘I’m too afraid to speak in case he’s waiting outside the door because you never know… Now he’s been caught,’ she explained.
‘What if he wants to avenge himself and hits me over the head with something and then runs, does a mad dash?’
April said her boyfriend rushed home from work to confront Jack.
‘I’m hyperventilating whilst on the phone but I’m texting him because I’m too afraid to speak,’ she explained.
‘He runs home, he gets this guy, he confronts him. Jack says something along the lines of, “Now I know what you’re accusing me of, I will find a way to move forward”.
‘Insane.’
Her gut instinct was validated when she caught Jack peeping through a tiny hole in the bathroom door while she was getting ready to take a shower
The couple called the landlord to tell him they were moving out after the disturbing encounter with Jack, who they had only been living with for a month.
‘My boyfriend calls the landlord, saying “We’re moving out today.” It’s like 9pm. And the landlord says, “Are you sure you guys can’t reconcile?”
‘We said, “I’m gonna say no, we can’t reconcile.” He was watching me in the shower, a strange man that I don’t know was watching me in the shower, like what the hell? I know deep in my gut he’d been doing it for weeks because I had this feeling.
‘All this time he’d been watching me in the shower and the bathroom and he clearly got brave enough to do it when my boyfriend was out of the house.’
The landlord ended up giving Jack a couple of days to move out of the property.
April said her boyfriend sternly warned Jack to stay away from her at all times.
‘My boyfriend stayed by my side day and night for all those days until this man moved out,’ she explained.
Looking back, April said she had an inkling that Jack may have installed a hidden camera in the bathroom, given how knowledgeable he was about technology.
‘Like I said he was a big tech guy. I don’t even want to know. I was so afraid that he might have filmed me. He had a camera somewhere… I don’t even want to know what he might have done that is creepy and predatory,’ she said.
‘That man got away, I never called the police, I never did because I was literally petrified, afraid and scared.
‘So that was my story on a creep that I lived with in Australia for a month. Always trust your intuition.’
The couple only lived in the property for six months before they moved out.
April has been living in Australia on a working visa with her boyfriend
After sharing her experiences about how she caught her ‘predator’ roommate on social media, many women shared terrifying housemate stories.
‘I could never live with a stranger again. I suspected but could never prove that my ex’s housemate was spying on us. He was also a computer guy. Always got a sick feeling of being watched,’ one revealed.
‘I work at a gym, next door is a computer repair shop. Naturally they installed our security CCTV system for us. Fast forward three years, computer shop closes, we have issues with system. We call a new CCTV guy, who discovers a camera was installed that we didn’t know about in the changeroom vent, and had access to watch them via his computer next door,’ another shared.
‘My life was made hell by a stalker ex in the same line of work. The intrusion made me and my family scared for my life,’ one added.
Meanwhile, many urged April to check her tech gadgets as a precaution.
‘I do not want to scare you but since he was into tech, if your devices were ever left alone in the same room as him, I would recommend you look into cyber stalking and take a few steps to make sure you’re safe,’ one shared.
‘It’s probably overkill but never too safe. What a horrible thing to happen to you, must’ve been terrifying.’
Another warned: ‘Have an IT person look over your laptops, phone and stuff to see if he put anything in them.
‘I know there are keyboard trackers, or could’ve hacked the cameras. Be safe girl, I’m glad you stood your ground. I had a creepy male roommate who worked in tech and moved out… it’s been a breath of fresh air not being around him.’
While one added: ‘Please don’t call yourself dramatic, it’s your intuition.’
*Name has been changed