They’ve done it again – Christmas decorations in the heart of Bendigo have been targeted by vandals.
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On Friday morning, Rosalind Park staff discovered two new nutcrackers had been attacked last night with a heavy object.
They also found evidence that someone had tried to scale the city’s Christmas tree and several new tags graffitied around the decorations.
City of Greater Bendigo Major Events manager Terry Karamaloudis said the attack was both “disturbing and distressing”.
“Someone has obviously belted the nutcrackers with a heavy object like a piece of wood or a metal bar,” he said.
“A lot of people spent many hours putting up decorations up to enhance the city’s appeal and to create a positive environment this festive season … so you can imagine the mood is pretty deflated this morning.”
Mr Karamaloudis said the nutcrackers were part of a $50,000 investment the city had made over recent years into new Christmas decorations and would cost $3000 to replace.
“They can’t be repaired and, ultimately, the community pays the cost of replacing them because of the actions of these people,” he said.
But Mr Karamaloudis said police were currently reviewing security footage of the area and he hoped make those responsible front the bill.
“Make no mistake – the city is most distressed by this and we will be cooperating fully with police to make sure the perpetrators are prosecuted and face the consequences of their actions,” he said.
“The thing that some people don’t understand is that the CCTV footage which we have will reveal clear images even in the darkest hour of night… so we’ve no doubt we will see clearly who these people are and are confident that the police will be able to identify them and apprehend them.”
It’s not the first time Christmas decorations have been targeted by trouble makers in Bendigo.
“Two years ago they stole the baubles from the tree,” Mr Karamaloudis.
“We went to CCTV footage then and the people responsible were caught and charged.”
In 2009 vandals urinated on the Christmas decorations in Hargreaves Mall before ripping them apart, causing about $2000 worth of damage. They too had their early morning antics caught on security camera.