Thugs target Mallow centre for third time
STONE throwing vandals have caused €1,500 worth of damage to windows at Mallow’s Gilbert Centre – the third time that the facility has been targeted in the past six months.
Up to 60 stones were thrown at the building during an incident last Friday evening, smashing four double-glazed windows, with the perpetrators also setting fire to bins outside the centre.
Centre manager Susan Sands said she was “between nearly crying and killing someone” following the incident which left shattered glass littered around rooms in the building.
Ms Sands said she believed the centre was being deliberately targeted following two similar attacks last year.
“I’m imagining it’s the same people doing this each time. They are targeting us,” said Ms Sands.
“I can’t believe they would do that to a centre that offers so much for the community. Quite honestly, I am distraught, we are all distraught here. We feel it is such a violation of this lovely centre,” she told the C103 Cork Today Show.
THE manager of Mallow’s Gilbert centre has revealed that last weekend’s attack on the facility, during which €1,500 worth of damage was caused to windows, was the third occasion the facility had been targeted by vandals.
Speaking to Patricia Messenger on C103’s Cork Today Show a clearly emotional Susan Sands said she was “between nearly crying and killing somebody” following the incident which left shattered glass littered around rooms in the centre.
“I can’t believe they would do that to a centre that offers so much for the community. Quite honestly I am distraught, we are all distraught here. We feel it is such a violation of this lovely centre,” said Ms Sands.
She said this was not the first time that the centre, which caters for adults with physical and sensory disabilities, had been targeted with windows having been broken by stone throwing vandals on two previous occasions over the past six months.
Ms Sands said that four windows were smashed and bins set alight during the latest attack, which is understood to have taken place in broad day light at around 7.30pm last Friday evening.
She said that up to 60 rocks and stones had been thrown at the windows until they smashed, with missile even lodging in one of the shattered panes.
“I don’t want to say too much with a Garda investigation ongoing, but I’m imagining its the same people doing this each time, they are targeting us,” said Ms Sands.
She said the centre had been recently raising funds to do “something special” for its service users but this money would be used up in replacing the broken windows.
Anyone with information on the incident or who may have witnessed any suspicious activity in the vicinity of the Gilbert Centre last Friday evening can contact Mallow Gardai on 022 31450.