Thankfully, the notion of destroying, defacing or disrespecting someone else’s property is completely and utterly foreign to the vast majority of people in our community.

But, sadly, wherever you go in Bendigo there is evidence of the mindless actions perpetrated by those who either do not understand, or do not care, the effect they are having.

For instance, what would possess someone to so callously snap the 10 fledgling elm trees planted to enhance the Lake Weeroona streetscape?

Not only will it cost ratepayers about $4500 to replant them, it sets the beautification project back three years.

It is too late, of course, but one can only hope the offender woke up the day after and, probably amid an alcohol or drug-induced haze, felt some measure of remorse cutting through.

Unfortunately, it is notoriously difficult to catch vandals in the act. They use darkness as their friend and inebriation as their excuse.

While the maximum penalty for wilful damage in Victoria is a fine of almost $4000 or six months’ jail, these punishments are very rarely, if ever, meted out in full.

Like with vandalism’s close relative graffiti, the justice system has struggled to devise a proportionate response that both punishes offenders and deters those tempted to follow in their footsteps. 

When applied to most crimes, the “eye for an eye” mentality rarely stacks up to the accepted standards of a civil society.

Just as vandals show creativity in picking their targets – nothing, no matter the degree of difficulty, is seemingly beyond them – the justice system should get creative with its sanctions.

Would it not be just to have the Lake Weeroona vandal, if he or she is ever caught, forced to replant the 10 trees they took such glee in tearing down?

Or have the people responsible for disfiguring our buildings with graffiti scrub their handiwork, and that of other offenders, until their backs seize up and knuckles bleed?

Piddly fines and good behaviour bonds are clearly not proving enough of a deterrent. Too many people in this community take too much pride in our public spaces to allow this epidemic to continue unchecked.

- Ross Tyson, deputy editor