Richmond cemetery vandalised again

A second spate of vandalism at Richmond Cemetery has prompted anger from the community and a promise of tighter security measures.

Work was undertaken to fix the initial damage on Friday, which had caused damage to vases and headstones across three rows of plots in F block, while a number of crosses had been removed from individual gravesites.

By Saturday morning a second wave of destruction had resulted in more headstones being pulled over, with many historical headstones broken into pieces.

Tracy Day of stonemason G Miller and Sons said ‘‘close to 50 graves’’ had been damaged this time around.

The company had a full crew of staff working to fix the bases and headstones.

There were also a number of marble headstones which had been destroyed. Day was unable to say how many memorials could be saved.

‘‘We don’t know, but there are some that we have seen are com- pletely shattered. I don’t know what they were thinking and right on Father’s Day,’’ she said.

Patrick Day said it was the most damage he had seen during his 30 years with the memorial industry.

He had met with some of relatives, which he said had brought back a lot of the emotion felt when losing their loved ones.

‘‘I just hope the person that’s done this feels some kind of guilt – because they need to own up to it.’’

Tasman District Council, which manages and maintains the surrounds of the cemetery, has already begun implementing ways to improve security measures in the future.

Communications adviser Chris Choat said discussions with police indicated they would increase patrols around the area.

Long-term the council would look to implement any further measures on a district-wide basis.

Choat said the TDC shared in the outrage felt by the community.

‘‘We’ve been dealing with a large number of calls from concerned family members and obviously there’s a pretty common thread running through [social media].’’