$3000 bounty on heads of Wanaka classroom vandals

Wanaka Primary School principal Dr Wendy Bamford examines damage caused by vandals who struck...
Wanaka Primary School principal Dr Wendy Bamford examines damage caused by vandals who struck during the weekend.
Local businesses have started a bidding war to add to a reward to find the culprits responsible for the burglary and vandalism of the Wanaka Primary School last weekend.

A reward of $1000 was put up by Wayne and Scott Findlay from Wanaka accountancy firm Findlay and Co on Monday for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for vandalising the classrooms.

Yesterday, the reward money had climbed to $3000 after three more businesses made contributions.

One business owner, Tom Smith of Simple Sites Ltd, said he was also prepared to build a set of stocks in which to hold and publicly exhibit the vandals.

The computing company put up $500, matching Uno wine bar owners Steve Prescott and Anton Elliott's contribution.

Radio Wanaka owners Ed and Kim Taylor matched the Findlays' opening $1000 figure.

Mr Taylor said everyone he had spoken to in the community this week had been outraged by the attack.

"Locals in our town take such attacks very personally, even if they don't have children at the school. It's seen as an attack on our whole town," he said.

The anti-vandal feeling was as strong now as when the town launched its Dob in a Dickhead campaign a few years ago, he said.

However, in the past, rewards had failed to result in the public identification of vandals.

In April last year, three 17-year-olds were caught by police after they admitted vandalising the Earth from Above photography exhibition.

There had been a $2000 reward, which went unclaimed.

Police were still seeking information about last Saturday's break-in, with "nothing substantial" reported yet, a spokeswoman said.

 

Add a Comment

 

Advertisement