Vandals target therapy garden for a sixth time

Obscene graffiti on fence and stones smash greenhouse

Staff at a Dundee therapy garden for military veterans have reacted with dismay after it was targeted by vandals for the sixth time in just over a year.

Thugs spray-painted obscene graffiti on a fence at the site in Dudhope Park on Friday night.

They have also been lobbing stones into the garden in order to smash windows in a greenhouse and a new potting shed.

Horticultural therapist Zisky Stovell, 29, said the garden had been repeatedly targeted by vandals over the past few months.

She said: “We’re hoping it is just kids. “On Thursday we had the window on our potting shed smashed and we have had a problem with kids throwing rocks into the garden to try to smash the greenhouse.

“Then, on Friday night I got a call about 11pm saying somebody had spraypainted a load of phallic images on the fence. We’ve been targeted about six or seven times since we opened but it seems to be happening a bit more since the start of summer.”

She added: “For veterans to see people coming in and trashing the stuff they have worked so hard on, and for the service they have given their country, is a real shame.”

Volunteers spent yesterday morning painting over the obscene graffiti on the fence.

Dundee Therapy Garden opened in December 2016 and offers rehabilitative therapy to veterans in Tayside.

A spokesperson for veterans charity Legion Scotland said: “A therapy garden is meant to be a unique place of safety for some veterans. The gardens provide the opportunity to continue the ethos of comradeship that is built through military service.

“This disgusting act is disrespectful to the veterans who have already sacrificed and suffered so much. We hope that the culprits are identified and brought to justice promptly.”

Police investigating the latest incident say it happened between 9pm and 10.30pm on Friday.

A spokesman added: “The fence of the garden, which is in the north-west corner of Dudhope Park, was damaged by spray paints.

“There have been other vandalisms and break-ins here previously, with an incident reported to us as recently as the beginning of last month.

“Even at the late hour when this took place, the park is busy with skaters and dog walkers, and we hope that someone saw something which could help us.”

Pictures: Steven Brown.

Michael Snowden and Zisky Stovell in the therapy garden at Dudhope Park which has been targeted by vandals who lobbed rocks and smashed a greenhouse window on Friday night and spray-painted offensive graffiti on a fence.