Thugs cause €20,000 in damages at apartments
By Aura McMenamin
RESIDENTS of a Tallaght apartment block have been left without a working lift after a group of teenagers wreaked havoc on the premises in the early hours of Thursday morning on February 15, during an act of vandalism.
An agent for the estate management company contacted The Echo and detailed the damage, caused by a ‘group of 4-5 youths’.
According to the agent, the youths, who were later seen on CCTV, pulled wires from the control panel in the elevator after forcing it open, disabling it.
They allegedly discharged up to 40 fire extinguishers within the five-storey building’s stairway, with holes being also left in the wall.
The group of youths allegedly gained access into the building and pulled the fire alarm, disabling the magnetic lock on the doors into the complex.
“The damage caused was in the region of €20,000,” the agent said. “There’s a child with a condition that relies on the elevator, who lives on the top floor. Another woman is post-op and is in a wheelchair – she is unable to access her apartment in and out.”
The agent alleged that by Friday, gardai had still not arrived at the apartment complex despite several calls to the nearby Tallaght garda station, delaying the insurance process.
A garda spokesperson told The Echo: “We can confirm one incident regarding this address has been reported to Tallaght Garda Station and is presently under investigation.”
A woman renting an apartment in the complex spoke to The Echo recently.
She said that the lift had not yet been fixed, meaning that the caretaker hadn’t been able to empty the bins from the different floors in the complex.
The resident said that on the morning of the incident, she was woken up by the sound of the fire alarm.
The woman described the damage: “The fifth floor was sprayed with the content of fire extinguishers. The fifth floor was waterlogged.”
“On the second floor, there’s a big hole in the wall. They were dropping fire extinguishers onto the ground floor from upstairs, so there’s holes on the tiles.”
She continued: “It’s a beautiful building with a lovely garden [in the internal courtyard].
“There’s no way of guaranteeing that this won’t happen again. What if they tell their friends, ‘Look at this great playground’?”
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