A mother has been left "heartbroken" after her baby daughter's grave was destroyed by vandals at a Rotorua cemetery.
Stephanie Pinkerton, whose daughter Madisyn Grace died of cot death at the age of 4 months, was horrified to discover her grave site at the Sala St cemetery had been vandalised, with the hand-made fence around the grave broken, ornaments smashed, a tree ripped out and flowers trampled on.
Now, 12 years after Madisyn's death, Mrs Pinkerton said she was forced to relive the painful memories of her daughter's death all over again.
"I'm absolutely heartbroken, just distraught," she said.
"I can't buy her nice things, cute clothes, or toys, I can't do that anymore. But I could make her grave look pretty, I could plant trees, flowers and bring things to her grave. It was the one place where I could go to do nice things for her, and now that's ruined."