Vandals wreck special needs bus

Anthony McMorrow, principal of St Francis' Primary School, Oran McCafferty, head boy and Lydia Quine, head girl look at the damage to their school mini bus. INLM10-105gc

The SELB bus, parked at St Francis’ Primary School, was targeted by vandals who also damaged a second bus belonging to the school in the early hours of Monday.

The bus, used to transport children with special needs on a daily basis to and from schools in the area, was extensively damaged in an attack which has baffled school principal Anthony McMorrow.

He said: “They were brazen enough to break in through the front gates of the school, but then it seems their focus became a pair of buses.

“It’s mindless. If they broke into the school with the intention of stealing something, what did they think they were going to find on a bus?”

“At most I think they might have got a mobile phone.”

After the senseless attack on the buses it’s believed an attempt was made to get into the principal’s office by breaking a window.

The principal said: “That tripped the alarm and they must have scarpered.”

Of the damage to the buses he said: “More damage was done to the SELB bus. They broke windows and inside the bus they pulled out wires and left it in a right state.

“They’d got into the bus through a small window so I would guess the person or person who got into the bus were quite small.

“I’m assuming they were young teenagers. I have no idea how many there was of them.”

Both the buses are in for repairs.

Mr McMorrow said: “It’ll be a while before we have ours back. The SELB was more badly damaged so it could be out of commission for a while.”