Reward offered for information to catch taggers

Roberta Coutts is offering a $100 reward for information leading to the identification of the culprit(s) behind a graffiti attack on a Tennyson St wall, and is encouraging others to contribute. Photos by Gregor Richardson.

Another bout of graffiti in central Dunedin has prompted an enterprising woman to go to the unusual length of starting a ''reward purse'' aimed at getting someone to dob the culprits in.

King Edward Court manager Roberta Coutts said a large wall covered with graffiti on the facility's boundary, was refurbished with a new coat of paint last week.

But the paint had hardly dried when someone tagged it again at the weekend.

''Some lowlife's destroyed all the hard work.''

Adding insult to injury, Mrs Coutts said the culprit(s) had also written ''CLEAN THIS!'' on the wall.

The Tennyson St land belongs to Otago Girls' High School, but is leased by Wilson Parking.

The tagger's signature.

''I hate graffiti. I paint it out as soon as it turns up anywhere around this building [King Edward Court], especially huge stuff like this.

''They've obviously just painted it to cover up all the stuff that was there before, and now for them to come along and do the whole wall again ...

''It's property violation and we need to put a stop to it. Somebody knows who they are.''

Mrs Coutts said she would put up the first $100 to start a reward purse, and encouraged others to add to it.

''Let's see if we can get others to contribute and make it $500, and surely one of their mates will dob them in.

''It's just got to stop.''

Mrs Coutts said she would like to see the culprit(s) made to clean up their mess.

Those with information about the culprit(s), or those wanting to contribute to the reward, should email kingedwardcourt@gmail.com.

Wilson Parking chief executive officer Steven Evans said the retaining wall was painted grey by a team at Task Force Green.

''It's disappointing to learn that it has again been tagged with graffiti, despite the best efforts of the task force and Keep Dunedin Beautiful.

''We will be in contact with relevant interest groups to offer support and aim to have the wall cleaned up and repainted as quickly as possible.''

District Command Centre deployment co-ordinator Senior Sergeant Darryl Lennane, of Dunedin, confirmed police had received a complaint in relation to the tagging, but there were no suspects at this stage.

The investigation was continuing, he said.