By ANEEKA SIMONIS
THUGS and vandals have forced a Pakenham couple to leave their home after a scarring sexual assault left them fearful for their lives.
They have described their past 12 months in the Falling Water Estate as a living nightmare and said they have also been the target of numerous vandal attacks, break-ins and burglaries.
“We both work all day six days a week and we have come home to have our car graffitied on several occasions,” said the woman, who did not want to be identified.
She said that despite the regular and intimidating attacks on her car and home, she’s been left mostly traumatised by the sinister attack late last year.
The woman said she was home alone during the Christmas break when a man broke into her home and sexually assaulted her.
The couple, who put up CCTV cameras following the attack, were one of many homes targeted.
“Our neighbours’ property has been vandalised.
“Most of us have CCTV cameras up to catch them but unless police catch them in the act, they can’t do anything,” the young woman said.
Another estate resident said her whole street has been hit by the attacks.
“In the last couple of months there have been a lot of burglaries and graffitiing going on,” said Dawn Martin, who has lived in the estate for the past four years.
“Our fence got tagged with graffiti, we went and spoke with our neighbour who was also attacked.
“He pulled out his CCTV footage and caught a shot of one guy as he was coming up to spray the camera,” she said of the attack, which is believe to have been carried out by two men at 2.19am on Sunday 12 October.
The victims said they have reported the incidents to the police who are investigating.
“We need to see some sort of security presence to deter these turds.”
“I am frightened for sure. We had a situation three months ago when someone was trying to open the door.
“I jumped straight out of bed, turned the lights on and they ran away – it’s just terrible,” said Ms Martin.
Police said it’s important that residents flag all incidents, big or small, with police so they can target their safety patrols.
“We require people to report all crimes so we can make decisions where to invest our resources,” Senior Sergeant Nathan Prowd said.
“Policing runs off information and residential input.”
However he said that only two graffiti incidents were reported to Pakenham police in the past month.
Cardinia Shire Council said it had attended most of the graffiti-affected properties in the Falling Waters Estate and offered residents a clean-up kit.
“The graffiti removal program offers residents and local business owners a free cleaning service to remove graffiti from public-facing spaces using environmentally friendly cleaners, high pressure water and painting out where required,” the council’s Resilience and Recovery co-ordinator David Lane said.
“The service is very busy and therefore can take some weeks to get to each property.”
