Raffael Sanchez
Vandalized house
Egging houses are not unheard of- for many! However, waking up to a house egged by vandals can be annoying and overwhelming, especially after a tired night spent in holiday celebrations.
Instead of winding down, some locals in our town spent hours power-washing their yards and exterior walls of their houses to get rid of the stinking smell of cracked eggs. While some residents feel that eggings have increased, others hint that parents should have conversations with their teenage kids, who are often identified as the culprits as per historical data.
"It was scary at first, as I was sitting in my living room and heard pop sounds. I live beside a catwalk, so it's easy to hit my side windows," describes Raffaella Sanchez after hours of cleaning up her house on Jan.2.
The cracked eggs splattered over her car in the front yard, the side of her house, and the backyard. She could not spot anyone when she stepped out. "I didn't respond fast enough, and, they would have just run down the walkway and gone out of sight," she adds.
Assuming that young adults might be involved, Sanchez says, "These kids have too much time on their hands and decide to vandalize. It's cheap and easy to get away with." With two 17 and 18-year-old children, the victim requests parents to have conversations at home about the consequences of throwing eggs.
"It makes me sick that young people can indulge in such reckless behaviour. Every time I walk out of my house, it still stinks," the long-time resident of the Westmount neighbourhood of the West Oak Trails area shares!
Other houses in her neighbourhood were possibly egged because Sanchez found an empty carton of eggs across the street from her home.
Another Oakville resident recollected how a few local teenagers egged her house a couple of weeks ago because they had grievances against her children. The teenagers were spotted on her neighbours' cameras and apologized when confronted later.
In another incident, Rubina Ahmed-Haq's house in the Glen Abbey neighbourhood got egged sometime between New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
Her cameras did not capture the culprits in action due to how they were positioned.
However, she thinks, "it was probably some revellers trying to be disruptive."
Though she did not notice an increase in egging, she adds- "according to social media posts, quite a few people have experienced their homes or cars being egged, which is unfortunate."
Halton Regional Police Service shared with Oakville News that these types of offences could constitute a criminal charge of Mischief if the offender is caught.
Constable Steve Elms, HRPS' Media Relations Officer, stated, "We always urge residents to report these types of incidents so that we are better able to monitor and respond to further incidents that are similar in nature."
HRPS also advises that keeping external lights on at night, installing motion sensor lights and/or installing video monitoring are good ways to deter these types of crimes.
