Vandals may force disabled man to leave home
by Padraig Burns
Gardai in Newport are continuing to investigate a number of incidents of vandalism at the home of a wheelchair bound man in the town.
Tom Chambers, who lives at 4, Sea View Park, Newport, has had the lock of his front door and a side access gate to his home interfered with within the past few weeks.
Signs indicating reserved parking space for a disabled driver were also removed earlier this year from outside his home while last week a large can was thrown at his house in the early hours of the morning.
Mr. Chambers has appealed to anyone who knows who is carrying out those acts of vandalism to report them to the Gardai.
"It's a terrible indictment of our society that this is happening. The disabled are an easy target. It's happening an awful lot nowadays but I seem to be the only one that's speaking up," he said yesterday evening. Mr. Chambers, who has been confined to a wheelchair since an accident in 1981, said that since he highlighted the acts of vandalism some weeks ago someone tried to throw a large tin through his back door.
"Thankfully, it hit the wood part of the door and didn't break the glass but that happened at 1.30a.m. and I would have had to spend the night with it broken if it had hit the glass," he said.
In the mid-eighties Tom Chambers completed a number of marathons in his specially adapted wheel-chair and recently he commenced training for a special charity walk in April of next year.
"What happened then really did hurt me. A few yobbos would put down the boot when they saw me on the roadside. They'd either splash water up on me or else dust.
"I don't know why they're doing this but it's so unfair. I'm just trying to raise some money for a charity but if I can't go out on the road I won't be able to take part in the walk.
"I know it's only a few people that are doing this and the majority treat disabled people with great respect but the few are causing great hurt."
Tom believes the solution to his dilemma is the allocation of extra Garda personnel to Newport. "Years ago, when we had a sergeant and four or five policemen we had hardly any vandalism.
"Now, we have two Gardai and it's practically impossible for them to supervise the whole area. It's too vast and when one man is off-duty the area is too large for one man to cover," he said.
Tom Chambers fears he will have to leave his home and relocate to a more remote area if the vandalism doesn't stop. "I'll have no choice. I can't go on like this," he said.