A woman says she feels “devastated” after vandals caused about $15,000 worth of damage to the 153-year-old church she is transforming into an Airbnb in south-eastern South Australia.
Key points:
- Vandals attempted to light fires in a toilet and a plastic bucket
- Jodi is renovating the property to use as accommodation
- Police have not arrested or reported anyone at this time
Jodi* had been renovating the old Methodist church in Mount Gambier to create a three-bedroom house, but the property has sat vacant since she purchased it last September due to a lack of contractor availability, other than weekly visits by Jodi.
When she attended the property on Saturday, Jodi found steel mesh had been pulled off a rear window, which had been smashed in.
Inside, vandals had caused an estimated $15,000 in damage, including to the historic church’s original floorboards.
The intruders had sprayed waterproofing and powdered tiling glue on the floors, walls, ceiling and leadlight windows, torn up original wooden floorboards and written slurs on walls and furniture.
The vandals also appeared to try and set the property on fire, setting books alight in a bucket and a disconnected toilet, both of which had electric fans pointed at them.
A SAPOL spokesperson said the incident occurred between August 24 and September 2.
“Police are investigating this incident, however, no-one has been arrested/reported at this time,” the spokesperson said.
Vandals leave ‘complete mess’
Jodi bought the historic chapel — built in 1869 — for $250,000 to turn into short-term accommodation.
She said, so far, the renovations had cost her more than $20,000 but would need a total of $150,000 to finish.
Jodie said she had been in the process of working on a new bathroom when the incident occurred over the weekend.
“I thought there were squatters in there originally because all the fans were on, there were some fires, the mattresses that I had stored were all pulled down,” she said.
“There was just complete mess.”
While she was unsure how much it would cost to tear up and replace the ruined floorboards, Jodi said the damage bill was already at about $15,000.
“It’s a lot of time and a lot of wasted energy,” she said.
‘Malicious, senseless behaviour’
Jodi said police searched the premises and took fingerprints but did not recognise the tags graffitied on the wall.
A bucket hat was also left behind.
Despite the damage done, Jodi said nothing was stolen.
“I’ve got another property that was broken into maybe four–five months ago around the corner from there, but that was a specific robbery,” she said.
“I have got no clue why they would do something like this, and it’s just for no reason except for boredom.
“This just feels like malicious, senseless behaviour.
“I don’t understand why they would choose to do this. It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
*Surname omitted to protect privacy
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