13-05-2025
Outrage as Gisborne Cenotaph defaced with red paint
As well as the paint on the lions, red paint droplets and paint splashes have been left on the tiles around the Cenotaph surrounds.
Police were notified on Tuesday morning and reported the attack to the Gisborne District Council.
Recreational Services contractors immediately sent out staff to try to remove the paint.
The Gisborne Herald understands the job proved difficult, as the lions are made of marble.
The Cenotaph, a heritage site, had only recently been extensively refurbished before one of the biggest Anzac Day dawn services for years.
Returned and Services Association president Trevor Jukes said the graffiti attack was an 'absolute disgrace'.
'It denigrates the ancestors of the people who did it,' Jukes said.
'Desecrating a memorial like that is desecrating their parents, their grandparents and extended whānau into infinity.
'When they meet their maker, the people they have offended will be waiting for them, and by crikey, they will deal to them,' he said.
'They have brought their family name into absolute disgrace.'
The district council labelled it 'disgraceful' vandalism on its Facebook page.
The post quoted Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz saying it was 'extremely disappointing'.
'It's disgraceful to see this. We expect better for and from our community. It's a shame the behaviour of a few impact so many.'
The post went on to thank those who reported the damage and 'we encourage you to continue to call out and report vandalism when you see it'.
Members of the public spoken to by the Gisborne Herald on Tuesday expressed similar sentiments.
'The people who did this really are the lowest of the low,' one man said.
'Not a good look for Gisborne is it,' another said.
'How could someone even think to do that. It's like an attack on the community, and the memory of the veterans remembered on the monument.'
Police are asking for information about the attack.
