'That's a sacred ground': Man dismayed at vandalism of family gravestones

A Summerside, P.E.I., man is trying to work out why anyone would vandalize the gravestones of his family and others.

The vandalism happened over the weekend at St. Paul's Cemetery. Ron Casey said police told him 19 or 20 headstones were damaged.

Three of those were for members of Casey's family: his brother Eldon, his sister Erma, and his parents Adrian and Louise.

"That's a sacred ground," said Casey.

"I just didn't think anyone would ever do anything like that."

Casey said the stones for his family have been repaired

He said he will be getting a bill for the work, but he did not ask how much it will be for.

"I can't leave them like that," he said.

Worried residents checking cemetery

Several other people visited the cemetery Tuesday, many telling CBC they had heard about the vandalism, and wanted to check their family members' grave sites for damage.

"My mother and my brother and my grandmother and grandfather are here actually are here, and I was very relieved there was no damage done to their grave sites," said Trina Gordon. "But it's unfortunate that there is a lot of damage done to other grave sites."

Gordon spent part of the morning cleaning up litter and leaves around the cemetery. She says after such a "disrespectful" act, she wanted to do something positive.

"I mean, these people are resting peacefully and for someone to come to a graveyard and do damage like this, it's awful, it's heartless. I'm not sure how they sleep at night honestly," she said.

Summerside police are investigating.

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