 Now Community Guard information is coming up for you around about quarter past ten this week today. Last week there was an appeal as it relates to, I think it was last week as it relates to an appeal on a holiday home. There was people went inside and messed up this holiday home. Now the appeal was detailed, do not get me wrong, but it did not tell the full story because it couldn't, because only the pictures can tell the full story. We're going to speak to that property owner now, but if you want to see what people or a person did the inside of this house, go on to our website highlandradio.com, click watch live or go on to Highland Radio Ireland on YouTube or any of our Facebook pages and I'll be showing you some of the images of what these people or person did to this house. Sam is the property owner. Sam, good morning to you. Good morning. Right, okay. Now you've had this holiday home, is it actually this home that you've had in Movil for a couple of decades now? Well, we've had it almost 20 years. It comprises of three apartments, a ground floor apartment and a first and second floor apartment. We never had to use the ground floor apartment, but we used the first and second floor top one for ourselves and the first floor if we had friends or family come to visit us. And what kind of state was the ground floor in? It was the ground floor that was the focus of this vandalism, is that correct? Yeah, the ground floor was actually vacant. The only damage done there was the broken window in the door into the kitchen, but there was no actual damage done inside because there was no furniture or anything in that ground floor apartment. All the damage was done in the first and second floor apartments and the entrance hole and the staircase and everything into the apartments. Right, so during what period of time did this happen? In other words, the last time you were there compared to when you returned? Well, the property was pretty much vacant prior to lockdown. Obviously, we weren't allowed to travel, et cetera, but we did keep a regular check on it and we were actually in the property on the 29th of August and that's the day that we found the damage. Prior to that was two weeks before the 29th of August and the apartments were intact. So, as I say, on the 29th of August we just had a routine check to make sure everything was okay and just couldn't believe our eyes when we opened the door. Yeah, right, so it was two weeks, the latter two weeks of August, this damage was done. Now, this, and anyone who hopped on to watch the show will see this, this looks like a demolition job. I mean, I don't know how long it might take or how many people it might take, but this looks like, this looks like you hired a team to go in and demolish the internals of it, but not remove what they demolish sort of thing. So, can you describe for listeners in Radio Land what these people did to your property? Well, they basically broke in with an axe and they went at the staircase like I have never seen anything like it before. The local guards and the forensic team were, they said themselves that they had never seen damage like it. It just was, the vandalism, there was nothing taken and it was just, they went at the staircase as you can see in the photographs. They basically tried to take the staircase out, but not for any modern gain that was just vandalism. They then went at the walls, the light switches, the sanitary ware, the kitchens, doors, and at one point actually in the first floor apartment, they actually hacked off the bathroom door, but left the hinges on and about probably six inches of the door on and brought that door upstairs, put it into what would have been my daughter's bedroom and just smashed the place to complete smithereens, the TV, just unbelievable. The photographs don't like to give enough detail, but the photographs are appalling as I'm sure you agree. They're unbelievable. It's not like copper was stripped from the walls, it's not like the wood was taken to be burned, it's not like this was like a pack of animals that went in there for however long I don't know and as much as they could possibly destroy, they destroyed. That's correct. What's the damage? I mean, we'll talk about the actual monetary cost of this, but what are we looking at here? Well, we're still assessing it and the staircase was that badly damaged that, you know, I've had a couple of joins look at it and there's the feeling is that we probably will have to replace the whole staircase because it's been damaged beyond repair. The number of walls that are going to have to be replastered, kitchen replaced, sound to wear. At this stage, we're looking at probably between 30 and 40,000 euro of damage. Yeah. What about the emotional impact this has had on you, Sam, because there was a notable pause for me anyway, when you mentioned, you know, them accessing your daughter's room. Did I pick up correctly in that? And how has this made you feel personally, you know, the emotional element of it? Well, we have always had, you know, a great perspective on the bill. And it's just sort of shattered to the extent that my wife and the daughter really don't want to return. What do you think has happened here? I mean, do you feel this is anything personal? Do you think that people just went in there? Like, was there any evidence of drinking or smoking in there? Like, what do you what do you think that there can be never any justifiable motivation for anything like this? I think that's clear. What do you think went on here? I think that the property was empty and the perpetrators gained access. And it's clear from the top apartment that they rearranged the furniture and they had evidence of drinking alcohol. There was pizza boxes with half eaten pizzas in them. There was evidence of smoking and cigarettes. And nobody in our family smoked. So there was definitely that. They readjusted the furniture to the extent that they were using it, whether it be as a Ben or a drinking or gathering case. I don't know. The guards did do your door to door inquiry. And there was a scene leaving the building, I think a few days prior to us coming down, but they were wearing hoodies. And they said that possibly there was there was one female as well. But they had used the we had the water turned off, thankfully in the premises, but they had used the toilet. And I would say the we believe there definitely was more than one person. Do you get the impression that this all happened in one day or they may have been returning of the course that fortnight? I would say that there definitely are a number of occasions. And the acts and I'm going to for those watching, I'm going to I'm going to pause the image on the acts. It's it's it to me, it seems really quite distinctive. It's got a green and yellow handle almost like the the Donegal G a colors that obviously was used. Was that on the premises or did they bring that with them? No, that that that was not on the premises. And that was sitting as you can see it sitting on the coffee table. And there was also a crowbar on the floor, which you can sort of see in one of the photographs as well. That that that was obviously what was used to do the damage and to gain access. But I agree with you that that acts as very distinctive. And I'm sure that there's somebody somewhere that could look at that and say that that that acts. There's an ax missing. Exactly. There's an axe, an axe missing from the back of someone's van or a shed or a utility room or something. Someone's gone looking for a yellow and green handled axe and is wondering where it's at. And this is where it gets quite important because this means that maybe there's someone out there, it might be quite difficult. It's not actually a yellow and green handle. The handles green, but the axes body is yellow. Just so we're clear. The rubberized section is green. The body of the axe is yellow. There could be someone that knows it's someone in their family is really what I'm getting at, or they say it supplied this equipment. And that's that would leave someone in a very difficult position. But I think people are going to have to step up and do the right thing here. This is really, really quite significant. And as you say, an attack like this is going to feel personal, Sam, it's going to feel personal to you too as well. There's just no and your family because you've already talked of the impact it's had on your family, but it's going to feel personal. Yeah, absolutely. Is there been any other information other than youth spotted exiting and entering the building? No, the guards in Fairness now have been very helpful and they've had friends to guide and they are hopeful that that there will be DNA of the pieces that they took, the axe, the crowbar, cigarettes, there's a glass there, empty drinking cans and things like that there. So they have been in touch with me and they're working on it. And they have done door-to-door inquiries and I've spoken to some of the local people that nearby and with the public across the road and they haven't seen that, but I'm confident that if they do, that they'll be very happy to help. What do you do next now, Sam, in terms of trying to get this back to the way it was before or I don't know, what are you going to do? I mean, obviously it has to go in and be assessed and casted and all that type of stuff. Are you ready for that? Well, as I say, we've had the insurance loss adjusters out and they advised me to employ because of the extent of the damage they've advised me to employ, my own loss adjuster to do a detailed report as to the damage and we're still working our way through that. As I say, the staircase is a bit of a worry because it's been so badly damaged that it may be that we have to take the whole staircase out of the property and replace it, which that one item would be an excessive 10,000 euro, I believe. All right. And listen, it's great that they're doing their forensic work today and all that type of stuff, but look at if this is young people, how you get a match, what effectively I'm saying is this is going to require maybe having real life suspects as well that things can be cross-referenced with. It's not like the telly where we have this database and they run it through and all of a sudden two suspects pop up. So this is going to require the local community to pass on the information they may have to the guards. Can you give us a more specific idea of where this is? It's in Movil, it's in Old Barracks, which as you say has been converted to three apartments. You mentioned there's a pub across the road, is there a joining property? Can you describe to us its location? Yeah, well it's pretty central and the toilet and pub is opposite and there used to be a restaurant on one side of it which was was destroyed by fire oh I'm sure maybe 10 or 15 years ago and it's pretty close to the yeah there's a children's park there and the and the water the water sports area. So you're right in the centre at James Street just at the traffic lights if you were coming in, if you were coming in to Movil from Green Castle and you hit the traffic lights you take a left and that's your own James Street and you're on the left there. And given the level of damage and destruction here you would imagine someone was walking past and heard something as well I don't know maybe it's incredibly well insulated I don't know Sam but there would have been a riot going on in this building. You would imagine anyone close to it is bound to have heard or seen something? Well the perpetrators didn't do any damage to the ground floor apartment which would have been they purposely would have avoided that because yes you're absolutely correct that anybody walking past would have heard that. The damage would have been confined to the first and second floor and the access was from the rear now there is quite a substantial back area to the garden and the sort of a back lane so there wouldn't be an offload of pedestrians on the back lane so but I agree with you that the noise must have been horrendous because as I said I don't think anybody you couldn't you couldn't do the damage without it's a complete work out. Even the noise of smashing a toilet it's under pressure so to speak do you know what I mean that would have made a racket that the the length of time it would have taken to destroy the stairs as they did you know all their damage smacking smashing of walls random stuff like pulling out pulling out the kitchen for it does it serves absolutely no there must have been like a pack of animals but the throwing TVs you know yet the the oven seems relatively untouched I don't know it does none of it makes sense of course but this is something that took an awful lot of energy dependent on how many people were at it it took a bit of time as well. Yeah well the fact that there's only one axe would sort of lead you to believe that it was that that was the the singular instrument that was used and and quite possibly maybe there was one person doing it and other people living on it's maybe an act of bravado you know I I don't know it's it's hard to get your hair around you know if somebody breaks into some someplace to steal something although that's wrong you can sort of say well they broke in and they stole something or they broke in and they were using it as somewhere to to sleep or to to drink but you know this you know I just struggle to have a nightmare it's about it that I just struggle to get my head around the fact that anybody would actually want to go in and leave a place in such a state that they know that somebody is going to come in and find this and and and lead us in the position that we are just struggling to to to get a head around it. Yeah you are offering a substantial reward for any information that leads to a prosecution tell us about that as much as you want to on air Sam. Well as I say we do feel so strongly about it and you know I've had a chat with the guards about it and you know we we know that the people of Maval are good people and somebody knows somebody that has been involved in this and all I would ask is do the right thing and come forward and anonymously or whatever way that you want to either through yourself or through the guards and there's a substantial cash reward at the end of it. Like I mean none of us would ever want to think it's our young people but I think if it were mine I I think they would need to speak to the guards and it might straighten them out a little bit if that makes sense. You know as hurtful and as tough as that might be and it could be any of our children at any time by the way because I don't know what was going through the mines but clearly they got caught up in a situation or whatever was happening but I think also too that the axe is really quite distinctive and I think maybe people could focus on that a little bit as well as everything else because it was left behind it's sort of like a medium-sized axe it's bigger than a hatchet I think is it axe size or sort of a mid-size implement or is it a hatchet? The handle would probably be about 14 inches long but I would guess the sort of thing that you say somebody would maybe have in their shed for chop and sticks or or something like that there but you know it's quite substantial it's not it's not a toy and it's you know it's I'm sure that somebody will look at that photograph and and go into the shed and say that that's my that's my axe. So it's got a yellow body it's got a green handle and as I say it jumped straight out at you was sort of like the Donegal colors and obviously just a just it's a regular metal head. As I say Sam you know these things are it's it feels like an absolute violation how do you rehabilitate how do you be rehabilitate you and your family's sort of relationship with this property again? Well as they were just trying to come to terms with it and it's at this point in time you know the girls are of a mind that they really don't want to go back and there but you know time to get here we'll see. Okay well listen I hope in some way this is helpful that someone who knows something gets in contact with the Guardi or not even if they don't if this is mistrust to the Guardi for whatever reason local parish priest or also whatever it might be but I think anyone should really want the people responsible for this to sort of have to face up to it I think it would be good for them because if you're capable of this kind of prolonged sustained abuse of a property what do you what do you do next week or the week after or in a month do you know what I mean because or maybe it's just a group of people and excitement and drink and impressing members of the opposite sex or whatever it might be all the same sex things ran away with themselves but I think this they need to face up to this I think and the community would be very forgiving I think if those responsible stepped up and faced this okay I think it would set them up for the rest of their lives effectively I don't want to overstate it either Sam but I think it's that type of an instant and you know sometimes you just have to do the right thing. Absolutely and you know can I take the opportunity to thank you for for Aaron thank you. No it's anything we can do Sam all right best wishes to you and your family thanks a lot. All right take care of yourself all right that is Sam there's the owner of the holiday home in Movil has been there going back and forth for 20 years it's the old barks there you heard him describe its location converted into three apartments the first floor and the top floor where the targets of that rampage is the only thing you could describe it as the bottom apartment or bottom section of the building was empty basically untouched but it definitely happened in the last two weeks of August because they were there mid-August they returned on the 29th of August and discovered this damage so it's a two week window at 40 000 euro worth of damage and a substantial reward for any information that will lead to a prosecution is being offered and again though I just think sometimes it happens people step up and go look that was also that was me and I think they would benefit greatly from that because there's a lot of evidence there there's a lot of DNA evidence on cigarettes and on axes and people might not be on a database at the moment if such a thing exists but down the line this stuff can be cross-references so