A life-saving defibrillator has been damaged by vandals at a popular Broughty Ferry beauty spot.
Vandals broke plastic casing around the defibrillator on the wall of Castle Green Leisure Centre, next to Castle Green, meaning the door no longer opens up to give access to the device.
The damage was discovered on Wednesday morning and Broughty Ferry Rotary Club, which installed the device two years ago, is already working to try and get the door replaced.
Graham Haig, from the rotary club, who normally takes a walk down to inspect the defibrillator once a week, has condemned the senseless violence.
He said: “It is an awful, unnecessary expense for something that could save the vandal’s life, never mind someone else’s.
“Normally people are good and leave the defibrillator alone because they know it is important.
“What the vandal has done is broken the front face of the door and in doing so has disconnected the handle so it doesn’t open up anymore.
“The defibrillator is still there in the box, but no one can access it now.
“It is so disappointing.”
The damage has since been reported to the Scottish Ambulance Service and to Community Heartbeat Trust to try and get the repairs sorted.
Graham continued: “It is usually a busy place with lots of people around and there is less chance of it happening, but it still did.
“It is just disappointing some wee ‘nyaff’ had to have a bit of fun and wreck it for everyone else.”
Councillor Craig Duncan, who represents the Ferry at Dundee City Council, was the first to discover the damaged defibrillator and reported it to the Rotary club.
He said: “The equipment is still there, but the door is bent in such a way it can’t open.
“It is disgraceful, you don’t need to be a genius to realise it is a potentially life-saving piece of equipment.
“The littering and foul language during the recent weather is one thing, but deliberately damaging life-saving equipment takes things to another level.
“Hopefully someone has seen something or someone’s conscience is bothering them and they can tell the police.
“This defibrillator can make all the difference to someone, I just can’t understand why you would want to do that, there is nothing to gain out of it.”
