Rowdies vandalize WWII vet’s car

Susan Cotie and her father Daniel with a rock used to damage the 93-year-old’s new car. (Chris Parent photo)

A family on Robie Street wants increased police presence in their south-end neighbourhood after they allege that university students were responsible for tossing a large rock through their car window.

Susan Cotie knows that when September begins, she must be on high alert for the return of rowdy university students. But after the events of September 14, she has had enough.

“At what point did that kind of vandalism and upset in a person’s life, how does that connect with fun?”

Around 1 a.m., Cotie awoke to a loud bang. She said it sounded like a garbage container blew up.

“I laid there and listened to it and I heard young men’s voices, laughing, while saying ‘holy expletive’ and then I heard them running off,” she said.

In the morning, she discovered what had made the sound. A large rock torn from her retaining wall was launched through a car window, damaging the vehicle her 93-year-old father—a veteran of the Second World War—purchased only months earlier.

Cotie was furious, but this act was not out of the ordinary. She said young adults, likely students, have stolen her lawn furniture and destroyed her flower plant in the past.

She does not know for sure if it was university students who wrecked her father’s car, but is confident she heard them.

“If it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, most of the time it’s a duck,” she said. “This was a student-aged party, on a Friday, Saturday night in September.”

The family lives on Robie Street, a geographic midpoint between Dalhousie and Saint Mary’s universities.

Cotie shared her story on Facebook in the hopes the guilty party would discover who their vandalism hurt. The story was shared hundreds of times.

She said this act of vandalism is not an act in isolation, but part of a greater epidemic.

“It’s pretty much a well known fact around here. In September, the craziness starts.”

Later that same night, after her dad’s car was vandalized, Cotie and her boyfriend verbally confronted two university-aged individuals who tried urinating on their property.

93-year-old Daniel Cotie said he would not mince words if he could speak to his car’s vandals.

“I hope they’re happy.”

The family will install a video camera and more lighting on their property to curtail future crime. Vehicle damage is covered by insurance.