Kids who defaced Ōmahu Marae in Hawke’s Bay caught ‘orange’-handed

Kids had been in the marae Monday night and had gone and spray painted all over the walls and tipped sugar on the floor.

Young vandals who defaced a Hawke’s Bay marae have been forced to get down on their hands and knees to scrub up their mess.

The walls of Ōmahu Marae, near Hastings, were heavily tagged with spray paint, and sugar was tipped everywhere on Monday night.

The marae posted on Facebook saying it knew it was children because one had left their bike behind and the fingerprints were small. It asked parents to keep an eye out.

Some of the damage caused.

“We know it’s kids because the fingerprints left are small so if your kid has come home with orange spray paint all over their fingers...”

Marae spokesperson Ruka Waapu said that one of the childrens' parents had seen the post that went up and made sure they faced what they did.

“The kid’s parents saw the post we put on Facebook and found out straight away and marched them down here and they have been on their hands and knees and have cleaned up their mess,” Waapu said.

Waapu said it was disappointing what happened but it was good to get to the bottom of it quickly.

“We pride ourselves on helping out the community and being a good place for these kids to come and hang out so for this to happen, we’re just glad we could have it all sorted out.”