Kind act softens pain
Flowers placed at hit graves
AN ACT of kindness from two complete strangers softened the blow for the families of dozens of Cairns children whose graves were damaged in an alleged act of vandalism.
Redlynch woman Natasha Downing has visited her twoyear-old daughter Cheyenne’s plot after a 41-year-old man allegedly drove through Forest View Cemetery, doing burnouts and leaving tyre marks on the graves.
Her suffering was to some degree tempered by a kind act by Cairns residents Shaye and Michelle Kyles, who on Saturday laid flowers at all 63 of the affected plots.
“I didn't go out the first day after it happened. My sister-inlaw went out and told me not to, it was just too heartbreaking,” Ms Downing said.
“A lot of it has been repaired but I still wasn’t sure.”
Ms Downing’s daughter drowned in a pool at Peace Lutheran College in 2006, a tragedy that caused the Coroner to call for the strict pool fencing laws currently in place across Queensland.
Ms Downing said she was overcome with emotion when she heard Cheyenne’s resting place had been desecrated.
She drew a blank when asked if she had a message for whoever was responsible.
“I don’t have a clear thought at the moment. It’s a mixture of sadness, anger, disgust and everything else,” she said.
“A lot of people have said (the culprit) should come and apologise but that’s the thing I would want.
“As a parent, I don’t know what I would do.”
Ms Downing said the cruel and pointless act had made a tragic chapter in her life even more difficult.
“It’s hard enough last to go under normal circumstances. When I saw the burnout marks right over the top of her grave, I just lost it,” she said.
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