Vandals have gone on a destructive rampage of graffiti and destruction in a Bellambi street.
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On Friday and Saturday night, the group of as many as six men, walked up and down Scobie Crescent, spraypainting slogans on fences, houses and cars.
At several addresses windows in homes and car windscreens were smashed.
On a fence in the street an ominous message was spraypainted in red "Luke, your time has come".
More than 30 houses in the street have be defaced, with most of the graffiti reading "21 IW" or "21 Inner West".
Residents are unsure of the meaning, with one suggesting it was the name of a Campbelltown rap group, while another claimed it was the name of a Sydney gang but the Bellambi attack was by "copycats".
One resident said he was woken at around 4.30am by the noise of smashing glass - the windscreen of his car.
I saw six guys legging it down the road. I raced out the front door and got my son to ring the coppers.
"It woke me up and I've come out to the window and looked," he said.
"I saw six guys legging it down the road. I raced out the front door and got my son to ring the coppers."
The house is one of a number in the street with CCTV cameras posted outside and the resident said they planned to provide the footage to police.
As well as the damage to their cars, the house and fence were covered in graffiti.
"We looked at the footage from the CCTV camera," he said.
"They got here about four this morning, done all the tagging left. And then they came back around 4.30 and smashed all the windows.
"I don't know who they are, don't know why they're attacking us. We've only been here since December, we're only new to the area."
The attack will hit the resident hard; he was still paying off the car that was covered in paint and had the window smashed. Plus it was uninsured.
"If I had insurance, it would all be put through the insurance, but I don't have insurance," he said.
"Being on a pension, I couldn't afford it so I ended up letting my insurance lapse."
Another resident had come home from work in the early hours of Sunday morning and hadn't seen anything.
It wasn't until he woke and walked out of his house on Sunday afternoon that he noticed his front fence had been daubed in graffiti.
Residents near the northern end of Scobie Crescent said the vandals turned up on Friday night and spraypainted several houses.
They returned in the early hours of Sunday and went on a rampage, hitting almost every single house in the street.
"This is out of character for the area," another resident said.
"We came out and as soon as we saw it ... it's disgusting, you know.
"It leaves you feeling pretty shitty, doesn't it?. You don't want to come out and see that."
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Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
