Give up, grave vandals urged

By Sarah Schwager
PARENTS of babies whose graves were damaged at the Cranbourne Cemetery have expressed their heartbreak at the desecration and urged the vandals to turn themselves in.
After last week’s report on the devastating vandalism, calls have flooded into the News from families who have been affected by the damage urging anyone who may know something to come forward.
Cranbourne resident Kevin Thompson saw his baby’s grave had been damaged when he opened the newspaper last week.
“I recognised the grave in the picture,” he said. “My main emotion was disgust as well as a bit of shock and a bit of anger that somebody could do this.
“My son (Robert) was 15 months when he died. It was his birthday a few weeks ago. He would have been 10 years old.
“If it is kids who are doing this – to damage graves of babies, well, they are the age a lot of them would have been if they were still alive.”
The vandalism at the cemetery has shaken local police with one of their own sergeants personally affected.
The Langwarrin sergeant found the grave of his 10-day-old son had been desecrated when he went to visit the site on the anniversary of his son’s death on 19 May.
“I was gutted,” the sergeant said. “Flowers had been thrown around. Who would do that?
“Obviously we deal with vandals quite often. But to damage and vandalise a cemetery goes beyond normal criminal behaviour. There has to be something mentally wrong with someone who’d do that.
“If their purpose was to inflict hurt on people, well then they succeeded because I was devastated.”
Cranbourne’s Tracy Slachter found the grave of her eight-month-old baby and her husband ruined.
It was the second time she had experienced the devastation. The grave of her baby Rachel, who died in 1993, was vandalised a few years ago.
“I wanted to kill anyone who did it,” Ms Slachter said. “I’ve got a disabled child at home and a daughter and husband dead, and I still work hard as well. They (the vandals) should be the ones to pay for the damage, I don’t care how old they are.”
Ms Slachter found a metal bar leaning against the tombstone, which she believed had been used to do the damage. It was a marker used at the cemetery to let visitors know where to go.
“Our lives have been destroyed enough,” she said. “These are sacred sites for us. Half my family’s been wiped out. That’s everything.”
Sue Cleary, who now lives in Mount Martha, received phone calls after a photo of the smashed picture of her baby appeared on the front page of the News.
“I just hope they catch the little buggers. It’s just cruel. I don’t know how they looked at this photo and then destroyed it,” Mrs Cleary said.
“These children don’t get birthdays or Christmases. All they’ve got is their toys.”
Her baby Elise was seven months old when she died in 1993.
She said she at least hoped the vandalism would now stop.
The damage occurred on Wednesday, 16 May, Friday, 18 May and Sunday, 20 May.
Anyone with information can contact Detective Sergeant Larry Grimshaw at Cranbourne CIU on 5991 0661 or make an anonymous call to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.