WHILE the vast majority of us are pulling together in the face of the looming health crisis, a number of people were involved in a ‘despicable’ incident at the weekend in which life-saving equipment was targeted by vandals and posters highlighting the dangers of Covid-19 were destroyed.
The PSNI are appealing for witnesses to incidents which occurred on the Main Street in Lisnaskea on Friday night shortly before 10:10pm, after a group of males pulled a defibrillator from its box on a wall and ripped off posters displaying public health information in relation to Covid-19.
A statement issued by the PSNI said, “Officers attended Main Street Lisnaskea and while they did not locate any males, they located the defibrillator. Thankfully, it wasn’t damaged and officers were able to safely place it back in its box.”
Chief Inspector Graham Dodds added, “These are despicable incidents. These posters and the defibrillator are there for a specific reason – to protect the public and save lives – but what occurred in Lisnaskea last night was reckless, and I would appeal to anyone who knows who was responsible to pick up the phone and tell us.
“Now, more so than ever, it is critical everyone follows the advice from public health officials and government about COVID-19. We all have a responsibility to safeguard ourselves and work with each other to keep all the people of Northern Ireland safe.”
Local Cllr Garbhan McPhillips, pictured below, condemned the behaviour, in the midst of uncertain times. “The vandalism and the outright annoyance in Lisnaskea at the weekend, was extremely disappointing. In fact it left me very angry at the whole situation. I totally condemn the actions by those individuals and would say that these types of actions are not welcome in our community. These individuals need to take a good look at themselves”, he explained.
Adding, “As if things are not bad enough with all that is going on with the Covid-19 virus, people have enough worries without this worry and annoyance as well. I was glad that the defibrillator was recovered later on that night by the PSNI. I would also say that if anyone has any information regarding the whole incident if they could contact the PSNI.”
Local MLA Sean Lynch also condemned the behaviour, speaking to the Herald he said, “I think it’s shocking that we have people behaving in this manner. The PSNI should be monitoring actions like this forcefully because nobody is going to tolerate this type of behaviour in the midst of a public health crisis.
“People need to be educated on how serious things are getting and what is yet to come. While many people are adhering to guidelines issued by health officials in a respectful manner, it’s always a minority as usual who are not taking it seriously at all and I think that is the weak link.
“I know of families in the area who are especially going through hard times, who have lost their loved ones and had to hold restrictions around the wake and have burials without a service.
“Even in these sad circumstances families understood that these measures were needed, yet we still have groups of men loitering around the town and causing unnecessary fear and disruption to others when they should be at home – I can’t express how dangerous these actions are.
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