Residents of a Sydney suburb are calling for urgent action after a series of deeply disturbing incidents in which human waste has been thrown from a high-rise apartment building onto a busy shopping centre below, with New South Wales Police now investigating what locals are describing as a pattern of deliberate targeting.
The incident that prompted public outrage occurred last Sunday afternoon at South Village shopping centre in Kirrawee, in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire, when mother-of-three Denise Gray heard something strike her car as she was loading her children in after a visit to a nearby park. Bystanders quickly alerted her to what it was.
“It was human faeces,” she wrote in a post to a local community Facebook page. “We didn’t see who dropped it, but it appears they waited until we were attempting to get into our car.” Staff at a nearby café warned her to move the vehicle quickly, telling her the same thing had happened repeatedly. “They said it happens all the time,” Ms Gray added.
She described her shock at the timing and apparent deliberateness of the act, which occurred at around 4.30pm when both the shopping area and the adjacent playground were busy with families. “I find it incredibly unlikely that it was a coincidence that it happened at the exact moment we were getting into our car,” she told news.com.au. She added that her youngest child has Down syndrome, saying that while such an act would be “completely vile for any person to be targeted,” the vulnerability of her son made it feel all the more disgraceful.
The community response to her post was swift, with numerous local residents describing almost identical experiences. “Exact same thing happened to my husband and I last weekend,” one woman wrote. Others called for intervention from shopping centre management, local council, and public health officials. Several commenters argued the matter constituted assault and posed a genuine health risk, urging police to treat it seriously. A smaller number raised the possibility that mental health difficulties or disability could be contributing factors.
NSW Police confirmed they are now investigating following contact with security management at the centre, who acknowledged a recent series of similar incidents. The South Village Apartments, which overlook the Mirvac-owned shopping complex below, are understood to be separately owned and managed.
Ms Gray said she would no longer park near the complex and hoped the investigation would bring the matter to an end before someone was directly struck.
