ABOUT 90 children were forced to play inside on Wednesday after their childcare centre’s outdoor play area was destroyed by vandals.
Paint was poured all over the grounds and thrown on the windows of the Community Kids Cranbourne centre in Duff Street on Tuesday evening. The inside of the centre, which is protected by an alarm, was untouched.
Director Megan Kostiuk was disgusted after she arrived to find the mess at 6.30am on Wednesday.
“They think they are not hurting anyone and doing this for fun, but it is harming all the children at the centre because they can’t go outside today and it’s a beautiful day,” Ms Kostiuk said.
“And the children see it – they are in a room with paint all over the windows and wondering why they can’t go outside.”
Cranbourne West resident Stacey Evans, whose two-year-old son Huson attends the centre, said she very upset about the destruction.
“My poor son and his mates are being punished because we have some hooligans who have come and vandalised all the yards,” she said.
“All the kids are affected by it.”
Ms Kostiuk said there were 90 children at the centre ranging from 0 to six, and there were 32 staff. She said more staff would need to be brought in over the next few days to clean the mess.
She said it was the worst case of vandalism at the centre, however, it was not the first time it has happened.
“It’s getting ridiculous. It happens about once every two months. This is the first time that it will take a few days to clean up the mess,” Ms Kostiuk said.
“Other times used to take about half a day. (The vandals) had poured sunscreen everywhere in the past. We used to have a rabbit who lived outside but we moved him inside, and we moved most of the play equipment inside too.”
Ms Kostiuk said she believed the damage had to be done by a group of people, as several gloves were left behind.
Police are investigating the incident. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Cranbourne Police Station on 5991 0600.
