THIEVES TARGET TUS NUA CRECHE
Play area vandalised and garden equipment stolen at the weekend
CALLOUS thieves stole €1,000 of garden equipment from a Bray montessori at the weekend.
Sinéad Plunkett, owner of Tus Nua, Quinsboro Road, said she had been sickened to discover the vandalism and theft.
‘We are not exactly sure when it happened but it was done between Friday night and Sunday afternoon. The piece of the astro turf which was stolen was totally cut to order because it was so perfectly done. Someone got a nice new garden out of it’, she said wryly.
‘It is very disheartening to think that people would stoop so low as to steal from children. The kids here had worked hard on the plants and the garden. The whole thing is very shocking. My heart dropped when I called in over the weekend and saw the damage.
CALLOUS thieves stole €1,000 of garden equipment from a Bray montessori at the weekend.
Sinead Plunkett, owner of Tus Nua, Quinsborough Road, said that thieves had come onto the grounds at some stage over the weekend and stole the equipment.
‘We are not exactly sure when it happened but it was done between Friday night and Sunday afternoon. They stole a chunk of our astro turf and also some of the children’s grow bags, planters and plants.
‘ The piece of the astro turf which was stolen was totally cut to order because it was so perfectly done. Someone got a nice new garden out of it’, she said wryly.
‘It is very disheartening to think that people would stoop so low as to steal from children. The kids here had worked hard on the plants and the garden. The whole thing is very shocking. My heart dropped when I called in over the weekend and saw the damage.
‘My own children were with me and they were very distressed by it. In total I’d estimate that there is about €1,000 worth of damage.’
Since the theft, Sinead said the local community and the parents have really worked hard to ensure that the place is put back to normal.
‘One of our parents did some work on the remaining astro turf in paints because the guards felt that it would be less attractive to thieves if it wasn’t so perfect. A local landscaper gave us some foam mats too to put down and the parents are talking about doing some crowd funding.
‘ The children have been very upset by this. Obviously they could see that the equipment was done and we were trying to explain what had happened without scaring them. The gardai were very good with them.’
Anyone with any information on the robbery is asked to contact Bray Gardai in confidence.