Families affected by a vandalism attack which left more than 10 headstones desecrated at a cemetery in South Australia’s Mid North will have to pay for repairs themselves.

Key points:

  • Families will have to pay to replace vandalised headstones at the Crystal Brook Cemetery
  • The state government has been called on to provide financial assistance
  • The Port Pirie Council says insurance will not cover the costs

The state government has been called on to fund the stonework repair of about 11 headstones damaged by the incident which happened some time between Wednesday night, August 3 and Thursday morning, August 4, 2022.

The headstones of Malcolm Sargent’s parents have existed at the site for about 10 years and were among those badly damaged in the incident.

“Ours were probably the worst of them; the headstone was tipped over and split in half and that broke the top of the tombstone … into about four pieces,” Mr Sargent, a Crystal Brook local, said.

He is yet to replace the damaged headstone but says he contacted a local stone maker who estimated replacing it would cost $4,000, which “shocked” him.

“We’re perhaps more fortunate than the other ones; we can probably afford to pay for it,” he said.

Families impacted by vandalism at Crystal Brook Cemetery are currently expected to pay for repairs of headstones damaged in a vandalism attack.(ABC North and West: Bethanie Alderson)

“I know one particular one [headstone], the children scraped the last of the estate together to pay for the tombstone … so it will be pretty difficult for them to find the money to replace that grave.”

Port Pirie Regional Council chief executive officer Peter Ackland says even though the council owns the cemetery land, the damage cannot be claimed through insurance.

“Because it’s under essentially a licence or a lease that gives rights to the lease holder and they’ve put their monument on it, so it’s not council’s property and therefore council can’t insure it,” Mr Ackland said.

The state government has been asked to help families left out of pocket by the attack.(ABC North and West: Bethanie Alderson)

Mr Ackland said he wrote to MP Geoff Brock recently to seek $30,000 in financial assistance from the state government.

“In this case we’ve tried to get some financial support for the people concerned,” Mr Ackland said

“First of all, people shouldn’t have to pay for vandalism that comes to their property and not everyone has the capacity to do that, so we recognise that and are trying to get some support.”

Mr Brock this week wrote to Premier Peter Malinauskas expressing interest in providing financial assistance.

The state government has been contacted for comment. 

Posted , updated