28 March 2019
Up to £10,000 of malicious damage to a mature tree and playground equipment at the Millennium Town Park has prompted Growth, Housing and Environment to report the vandalism to the police.
CCTV has captured a group of children at the park on Saturday evening, when a dinner-plate-sized area of bark was hacked off a mature tree. Footage, which has been passed to the States of Jersey Police, reveals the youngsters throwing bricks and hacking at the tree for almost 20 minutes with what looks like handlebars of a scooter.
The damage to the tree will take decades to heal and might mean that it has to be replaced. This will involve shipping a mature tree to the island from the UK and replacing a protective base around its trunk. Depending on shipping costs, this could cost up to £2,000.
Repairs to the play equipment could bring the total bill up to £10,000.
The Manager of Municipal Services, Bruce Labey, said: “We obviously take these incidents very seriously indeed, and the matter has been passed to the police.
“Our parks are a much-loved facility which benefits our whole community and it is very sad to see such pointless damage being done by such young children.”
gov.je