Residents hit out after series of attacks on cars

Scrapes to Graham Watson's car

People living in a residential area near Londonderry city centre have said they do not know what is behind a spate of attacks on their cars.

Residents of De Burgh Terrace and surrounding streets said there had been an increase in incidents in which parked cars were scraped or had their tyres let down.

They said the incidents usually happened overnight and had been going on for some time.

The police told BBC NI they had received four reports of damage to cars in the area over a fortnight since 23 April and that the incidents may be linked.

Roisin, who has lived in the area for 10 years, said she could not afford to have the damage to her car repaired.

Her car was repeatedly scraped over a number of nights.

“So, my car is parked down here on the main road but also up on my street,” she told BBC Radio Foyle’s North West Today programme on Monday.

“The first night I saw a long key scrape all along the side of it which is quite deep, I couldn’t fill it in with any repair.

“So I tried to park it closer to my house the next few nights. But even then, the other side of the door got keyed about six times all along the bottom of the door.

Roisin said some cars have had their wing mirrors “kicked off” and that the incidents had been going on for some time but “it’s not been this bad”.

“One was scraped so many times that there was no paint left nearly on the back door and on the other side," she said.

“You can see that it’s planned and that it’s premeditated."

Damage on the side of a car owned by one resident

The area where she lives is near the popular Brooke Park but Roisin said she had “no idea” who was behind the attacks or why they were being targeted.

“There are so many people who pass through to the park up through the back road here,” she said.

“There are a lot of people who hang around at the bottom of our road on Friday and Saturday night, so I’ve no idea.”

Another resident, Graham Watson, is waiting to get his wing mirror repaired following damage about a month ago. He said the bill for damage to date runs into hundreds of pounds.

His car tyres have also been let down “on more than one occasion”.

'Random violence'

Such incidents in the area date back “probably … a year or more”, he said.

“I don’t think anyone is being specifically targeted, or at least I’d like not to think so,” Mr Watson said.

“There have been quite a few cars which have had big scratches put down the side of them, which is kind of at the natural height for someone walking past with a key, just to run a key down it – which again is just stupidity and it’s just random violence.”

Damage to another car parked on De Burgh Terrace in Londonderry

Insp Michael Gahan told BBC NI that between 23 April and last week, officers had received “four reports of criminal damage of a similar nature to vehicles parked in De Burgh Terrace”.

He said the damage – scrapes to the vehicles’ bodywork – was believed to have happened overnight.

“Through enquiries into these incidents, which may be linked, we've also been made aware other vehicles in the same area have sustained similar damage,” he added.

“These incidents haven't been reported to us and, so, I would urge anyone who this has happened to, but hasn't reported it to us, to do so now.”