“HATEFUL” graffiti in St Lawrence is costing ratepayers, the parish Constable has stressed as she urges Islanders with information to come forward.
The States police have confirmed that three incidents of “malicious damage” near the parish church and at a bus stop were reported on Monday afternoon.
Graffiti included the names Alice and Rosalie, references to a man’s genitals and the conversion of a road sign into a swastika.
St Lawrence Constable Deirdre Mezbourian said she had brought the incidents to the JEP’s attention because she hoped exposure in the media would encourage Islanders with information to contact the parish hall or the States police.
She said that a house had also been vandalised, causing the resident to contact the parish hall whose team subsequently found the further damage to walls, the bus shelter and road sign.
The Constable said: “It’s unusual for this to happen in the Island, particularly in St Lawrence. My concern is that this starts off as minor damage, but the perpetrators aren’t caught and don’t realise the problems that they’ve caused and progress to other crimes.
“This has cost a lot of time for the parish staff and it’s going to cost more time because the groundsmen will have to go out and try to clean everything off the parish property.
“It’s costing the parish ratepayer, and I’m not happy with it at all.”
Mrs Mezbourian added that she was “particularly concerned” about the “hateful” nature of some of the graffiti – the swastika – saying some would consider it a hate crime.
She continued: “We hope someone comes forward with information about Alice and Rosalie. It’s sad that people feel they should do this. It speaks a lot about our society and it shows our society in a bad light if people feel they can do that.”
