St Luke’s Hospice in Grassy Park has been the target of vandalism and break-ins since the beginning of the year.
The most recent incident occurred on Tuesday 21 June when vandals broke in through a set of double burglar bars.
Nadia Emjedi, the daycare co-ordinator at the hospice, said they are at their wits end and do not know what to do.
“On Tuesdays we only have day care. When we arrived at the gift shop the burglar bars had been ripped off the wall and part of the wall underneath the frame was knocked out.
“We have two sets of burglar bars and they got through that. There is nothing really valuable at the charity shop, they stole a kettle but did more damage to the wall and window which will cost a lot to fix.
“They stole something that is not expensive but the damage that was done to the window and door is expensive.
“Our insurance does not cover that because it’s part of council property.”
She added that the daycare facility is one side of the premises and the charity shop on the opposite side.
“In the charity shop we have stuff like second hand clothes, bric-a-brac and nothing valuable really.
“There has been around four break-ins and we have tried everything including having security beams that would alert the security company, but the wires were stolen.”
Earlier this year, vandals stole gifts that were meant for the patients at the hospice.
“We do different things with our patients, so when there were gifts for the patients a few months ago that was stolen.
“The break-ins happen when there is no one around. There are always different people walking around on the premises while the nurses and social workers are there.”
She added that staff do not feel safe to be alone at the premises.
“On a Tuesday there is a lot of us, but I wouldn’t go by myself. We have tried everything, we tried moving to a safer area but it would cost us a lot of money,” said Emjedi.
