For the third time a Maple Ridge family has been targeted by vandals.
Harman Deep Brar said he was getting ready for work at around 6 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 31, when there was a loud banging on his front door.
He heard people yelling “Go back, go back”. When Brar and his son went outside their Mountain View Crescent home they witnessed around three or four individuals, boys and girls, kicking down a portion of their front yard fence.
“When we got out, at that point in time they were kicking the fence down. They broke four or five of the planks,” said Brar, before they took off on foot.
The 48-year-old called police, but he said, they didn’t arrive for 45 minutes and then told him that it is a nonemergency.
The first time he was targeted was on May 20 when one side of his fence was damaged.
The second time was on Aug. 9. This time he claimed the culprits banged on his door and shouted, “Go back to your country”, among other things. However, at that time other fences in the neighbourhood were also targeted, including that of Susan Freemantle, who only lives a couple doors down from Brar.
Both live across the street from Maple Ridge Secondary School and believed the vandalism was linked to people partying in the school’s field.
READ MORE: Multiple fences vandalized in Maple Ridge neighbourhood
RELATED: Over 30 teens vandalize Pitt Meadows school playground
This time around, though, Brar’s was the only house targeted. He said the vandals looked to be in their teens.
On Aug. 15, Const. Julie Klaussner with the Ridge Meadows RCMP confirmed that several sections of a fence were vandalized in the Aug. 9 incident and that police would be looking at all factors, including motivating circumstances.
She said a Ridge Meadows RCMP unit supervisor had been directly in contact with the complainant, more than once and affirmed the investigation was ongoing.
Klaussner said there were no new updates regarding this specific investigation.
“However, I can tell you that criminal investigations are prioritized by safety to the public or bodily harm would have a higher priority then a damage to property investigation,” she noted, adding that police take all investigations seriously and will thoroughly investigate every file.
“If at a time that someone is unsatisfied by the work that the police do we encourage them to contact the detachment directly with their concerns,” said Klaussner.
Brar does not want to purchase new planks this time around to fix his fence because he is worried it will only be vandalized again.
For now he is using what was left of the broken plankes to fill the hole.
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This is the third time Harman Deep Brar’s fence has been kicked down by a group of vandals in Maple Ridge. (Special to The News)
