The owner of a popular cafe loved by families has made an emotional appeal to help find the vandals who destroyed more than 50 trees, ripped out bins and set fires.
Secret Garden owner Melissa Boothman has described last week's attack in Cardiff's Bute Park as "dark and sinister", adding that it was much worse than originally thought. Police have been trawling through CCTV over the weekend in a bid to identify the culprits..
More than 50 trees were destroyed between Blackweir Bridge and Pettigrew Tearooms, while plants, planters and manhole covers were broken and bins ripped from the concrete. Cardiff council said that they received a report of "significant criminal damage" in Bute Park in the city centre on Friday, September 10, morning.
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In the video, Ms Boothman said: "It is way worse than I thought at the start. It is quite dark, it is quite sinister, and it feels like a real attack on the green heart of Cardiff."
She said they had:
- Used chainsaws to cut down oak trees that had taken years to grow
- Set fires Blackweir wood to try and destroy the chainsaws used
- Snapped young trees and memorial trees across the park
- Destroyed all of the new cherry trees in the orchard
- Lifted up manhole covers, and then threw stones down them to block drains
- Lifted up a manhole cover that contained internet supply wires and burned them
- Trashed signs at the boat port
- Damaged trees
- Turned over bins and planters
- Pulled plants out of beds
- Broke into changing rooms near the cricket ground.
"The damage is extensive, it's huge, it's vast, it's destructive, it's nasty, it feels calculated," she added.
"The park is a place that has been there for us all during Covid, it has been a space we can escape to, a sanctuary that we can feel safe in. It was gifted to the people of Cardiff, but there has been a lot going on lately that is slowly making it feel like a space that is not safe, and making it feel like it is being taken away from us.
"My call if anyone has seen anything, please come forward. Call the police. Any evidence is so important if we can try and find those people and find out what has driven these people to do this."
Over the summer, there have been more incidents of violence in Bute Park. Father-of-two Dr Gary Jenkins died 16 days after being attacked there in the early hours of July 20. Three people have been charged with his murder. That came just five days after a woman was raped in the early hours of the morning — a 20-year-old man has admitted the attack.
The cafe owner also said that she wanted to come up with a "positive counteraction" to what had happened in the form of crowdfunding to buy new trees or a community walk through the park.
"It would be a way to claim the park back as our own, claim it back as a safe place, and show resilience. To show it is not acceptable. The park is ours," she said. "The communities around the park have been hit hard, but we are in it together and the support that has been shown has blown me away. I think we should capture that energy."
A spokeswoman for South Wales Police said: "Officers have been making enquiries over the weekend and checking CCTV which covers entrances to the park. Those responsible have not yet been identified and we are still appealing for information."
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