By Vivien Chan

SHE may not know it, but Madam Chan, a housewife, is also a teacher.

She taught several valuable lessons when she helped two 13-year-old neighbours who were being stalked by a 15-year-old boy.

Lesson 1: Look out for your neighbours

Madam Chan (she declined to give her full name) was standing outside her flat whenher neighbour's daughter rushed up to her, trembling.

A boy is following me, she told Madam Chan in a shaky voice.

Turning around, Madam Chan, who is in her 40s, saw a teenage boy in school uniform at the end of the corridor.

Seconds later, he ran off.

Madam Chan was sure it was the same boy who had followed the girl home once before.

He had done the same thing to another neighbour's daughter, also 13, on another occasion.

The girls go to different schools, but live on the same floor as Madam Chan. They live in the east.

The latest incident, where the girl approached Madam Chan for help, happened on October 8.

Madam Chan, mother of an 8-year-old daughter, told The New Paper: "The girl said her legs had gone "soft" from fear."

Lesson 2: Never give up

After the boy ran away, MadamChan and the girl looked over the parapet and spotted him running under the block.

Madam Chan told the girl not to be afraid and said they should go after the boy.

"I told her we should stop this boy before he continues (to stalk other girls)," Madam Chan said.

"I took an umbrella with me in case he attacked us."

The pair took the lift down from the eighth storey. Downstairs, they spotted the boy sitting at a bus stop about 200 metres away.

Fearing that he would flee when they confronted him, Madam Chan asked four teenage boys, who were sitting at the void deck, to help them.

While the boys waited across the road, Madam Chan and the girl approached the boy at the bus stop.

Madam Chan said: "I asked him what he was doing at our block, and he replied calmly that it was a misunderstanding. He said he went there to look for a classmate."

When she suggested they go to the police station, the boy ran off.

The other four boys gave chase but he gavethem the slip.

But Madam Chan refused to let the matter rest.

She had seen the boy's uniform and knew which school he was from.

The next day, accompanied by the two girls whom the boy followed home, Madam Chan went to his school, which is also in the east.

"We wanted to know if his parents were aware of what he's doing," she said.

The girls, whose parents had to go to work, were able to identify the boy through the school's photographs that the discipline master showed them.

"I was not very sure if it was the right boy, but the girls were quite certain it was him," said Madam Chan.

The girls turned out to be right. The boy is a Secondary 3 student.

Madam Chan said the vice-principal called her on 12 Oct and told her the boy had confessed to stalking the girls. His parents had been informed.

When The New Paper contacted the school, the principal confirmed the incident.

"We have spoken with the student concernedand his parents," he said.

"The student is remorseful and understands that his actions were socially inappropriate.

"We are working closely with (his) parents and providing (him) counselling support to help him to move on."

The girls' parents declined to let us interview them. But thanks to MadamChan, they can now walk home without fearing for their safety.

Lesson 3: Take responsibility

Madam Chan said: "It's social responsibility. If I turn a blind eye and (the boy) turns out worse in future, I'll feel guilty. I want to help him too.

"He seemed to be doing it out of habit because he had never been caught. He was also very calm when I confronted him. Obviously, he had already planned how to react if hegot caught."

Madam Chan added that she knows what it feels like to be harassed.

Years ago, she was targeted by a flasher.

After confronting the man, she called the police and he was arrested.

Madam Chan said the boy had offered to apologise to the girls, but their parents did not agree.

"They have forgiven the boy, but the girls are still traumatised, and they just want to put it behind them. They don't want to meet the boy," she said.

"We just hope the boy will turn out for the better."

» He follows girls home

This article was first published in The New Paper.