VANDALS have trashed a West Bathurst unit, throwing paint and grout around the property, down the sinks and toilet and putting tins of paint in the oven and turning it on high.
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Cameron Smith, who owns the unit, has been renovating the property, but is living at Oberon while the final stages including a new kitchen and carpets are completed.
A friend, who has been helping him out with the renovation, went to the unit on Friday, and found the damage.
While angry about the damage, he said what he finds most upsetting is the fact had the paint tins exploded, put in the oven by the vandals, and caused a fire, there was potential for others to be seriously hurt or killed.
“The unit is a joint duplex, and there is a young couple living next door, the lady is pregnant and they also have a young child, so if the whole thing had gone up, things could have been a lot worse,” he said.
“We’re just really lucky the paint was water based and not acrylic,” he said.
Mr Smith said his friend found the damage after returning to the unit; the friend could smell something burning, and after walking around found the paint cans in the oven and all the other damage.
“He opened up the bedroom door and there was tiling grout and paint thrown around through the bedroom and the laundry. They’d put grout in the toilet, and splashed two cans of paint around the kitchen and bathroom, plus the two cans of paint in the oven.”
They also poured paint over all the power tools in the unit, and down the jets of the gas hotplate, but didn’t steal any of the tools or anything from the property.
Mr Smith said he went straight to the unit after hearing what happened.
“It’s just frustrating and disappointing. Who ever did it had no concern at all for the people next door.”
He said he doesn’t understand why people would do something like this.
“It makes me angry because they don’t care about other people’s stuff, I work hard and it’s been a struggle to renovate this but they don’t care I’ve worked hard and have tried to make it nice,” he said.
And while Mr Smith was under the impression the unit was insured, it turned out, unbeknownst to him, the policy had lapsed, and is not covered.
He and his family have spent the weekend cleaning the property, and now have to replace the damaged items. He said he was grateful the new carpet had not yet been laid, and that was at least one thing he wouldn’t have to replace. Police attended the scene and were able to lift prints from a number of items, their investigations are continuing.