29 January 2024 , 20:28
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A couple captured the moment a gang of teenagers who terrorised them trespassed on their front garden - before destroying their prized statue.
Marek Soltysiak and his wife, who live in the Inch area of Edinburgh, have endured 'months' of torment with the horrid group of lads regularly rendering them terrified with their violent antics. And to make matters worse, on Sunday, one member of the crew broke a statue the couple had spent years crafting.
The footage, taken from their CCTV, shows an individual walking over the statue, which he subsequently kicks with a mighty force, sending it crashing towards the ground. Unsurprisingly, the damage has left the couple devastated and feeling like there is nothing they can do to prevent the group from continuing to wreck havoc on their lives.
The situation was particularly difficult, as it took the pair around five years to grow the plant statue. In an interview with Edinburgh Live, Mr Soltysiak explained: "To be honest, this all started a few months ago, really. We have a very well-built garden, and it's also very well-lit too. I can only think that for the past few months, they haven't been satisfied with the damage that they have done so far and finally managed to damage the statue after about ten attempts.
"They normally visit my garden once they finish school at around 3.20 pm, but they visited at around 8 pm on Sunday night, which is when the statue was damaged. I just feel so gutted because it took us about five years to grow it; you can't buy it like that. Five years of hard work has been successfully damaged by a school pupil; it's devastating, really."
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Marek and his wife are sick of the gang invading their propertySadly, the pair feel in a state of complete and utter disarray. After committing the acts, the group sprinted off into the distance at a rapid pace, making it "impossible" for Mr Soltysiak to catch them. He raged: "The biggest problem for me is that there isn't anything I can do, they are untouchable and there is always a few of them in the group.
"It’s not even just the statue that they have ruined, they have damaged our pond a few times by throwing stones in there which is easy to fix but to rebuild the statue is impossible. I feel gutted, especially my wife because she spent a lot of time on the statue and the biggest concern is we aren’t able to do anything because they are so young. Every time I try and go to them when they visit, they run away."