Defibrillator in Cutts Close Park, Oakham vandalised for third time
‘Senseless vandalism’ has forced a council to remove a life-saving defibrillator.
Police are investigating after the defibrillator in Cutts Close Park, Oakham was vandalised on Friday night (January 5) for the third time in six months.
The defibrillator, which belongs to Oakham Town Council, was first hit in the summer.
Town clerk Chris Evans, who had been appointed shortly after the vandalism, was tasked with replacing the box and opted for metal casing, rather than plastic, in a bid to deter the offenders.
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The glass window of the defibrillator box was smashed during the Christmas period - and swiftly repaired by the council - before being vandalised again on Friday.
Mr Evans said: “Myself and the council can’t understand the mentality to destroy a life-saving piece of equipment not only once but for the third time in six months.
“It is costing us and therefore the taxpayers money.”
Oakham Town Council bought the defibrillator for the park last year with the view that events are held there which attract hundreds of people and in an emergency other defibrillators would be too far away.
The device can be used to bring a person’s heart back to a normal rhythm following a cardiac arrest and can be accessed using a passcode given out by 999 call operators in emergencies.
The defibrillator has now been removed from Cutts Close due to concerns rain may be inside the casing and that the equipment may have been tampered with.
The council will discuss whether to return the defibrillator to Cutts Close but Mr Evans expects ‘it is the last thing they are going to want to do’.
“I don’t think we are going to be able to put it back there,” he said.
“For whatever reason someone has taken offence to it.”
Mr Evans added: “It makes me feel sick.
“It is senseless.
“That piece of equipment is doing no one any harm.”
CCTV footage will be passed on to Leicestershire Police.
