A grieving family have been left infuriated after vandals ripped apart a young mother’s headstone.
Sariah Rose’s family went to her grave site at Gungahlin Cemetery in Canberra’s north on what would have been her 32nd birthday on Monday.
Ms Rose, whose headstone was decorated with a large pink quartz in her memory, died from cancer in 2020 aged just 27.
Her family arrived at the gravesite to find the precious gemstone missing and the granite burial plaque pulled off its base.
Police believe the site was vandalised sometime between Sunday and Monday afternoon with a number of incidents being reported around the same time.
Another grave marker with two gold plated hands was stolen from a grave site about the same time while a woman reported her phone had been stolen.
Police were also told that a man had been seen attempting to break into a car nearby before fleeing the scene with two other men in a white 4WD.
The incident has left Ms Rose’s family ‘shattered’ and sparked an uproar on social media with many calling for the vandal to return the stone.
The family of a mother who died from cancer, Sariah Rose, 28, have been left infuriated by a vandal who destroyed her grave marker on what would have been her 32nd birthday (pictured)
Ms Rose’s family have also expressed their fury after her young son and his dad saw the damage on Monday.
‘It’s pretty shocking and unbelievable that somebody would do this, and on her birthday,’ a relative wrote.
‘Whoever you are…you’ve done a horrible thing and rebroken many hearts.
‘How do we replace this? When it was borne and created through so much pain and heartache.’
One of Ms Rose’s friends took to Facebook to say the site had been ‘damaged and desecrated’ after they visited it the day prior to clean it up for the family.
‘You are a heartless, shameless and worthless person,’ the friend said.
The vandal took off with a large quartz (pictured) which had been left on the headstone to remember the mother
‘You have shattered the hearts of a family who will never stop grieving – the worst of this, Sariah’s little boy is completely devastated.
‘He went there this morning to see his mother only to find the act you had committed.
‘This needs to come back. This needs to be undone.’
The missing quartz stone is described as being 30cm-35cm tall with a circumference of 40cm.
ACT Police have launched a manhunt to track three men seen at the cemetery on Monday and and have appealed for any information regarding other incidents that day.
Anyone with information has been urged to contact police.
