The front hood of a Mercedes-Benz car worth over 600,000 yuan was scratched and "disfigured." Photo by Li Haiyong.
In the early hours of yesterday morning, at No.2 Dianxia Street, Andemen, Nanjing, in the De'an residential area, a resident went downstairs to get their car and discovered that the body of the vehicle had been maliciously scratched with a hard object. More shockingly, as residents within the compound inspected their vehicles, it was found that a total of 9 cars had been scratched to varying degrees. Additionally, two more cars parked at the entrance of the underground garage in the furthest part of the compound were also damaged. Currently, the Yuhuatai District police of the Nanjing Public Security Bureau have begun an investigation.
Eleven cars were severely disfigured.
At around 8:00 AM yesterday, after receiving a tip-off from a citizen, the reporter arrived at the scene and found that a Mazda 6 sedan parked at the innermost part of the compound not only had its front hood spirally scratched by a hard object but also its right side body panel and even the trunk lid had been marked with a large "X". Since these scratches penetrated down to the car's primer, the owner would have no choice but to repaint the entire car at the 4S shop. As the police were investigating and gathering evidence, another resident surnamed Liang rushed over to inform the investigating officers that his Mercedes-Benz parked in the underground garage had also been scratched. Upon reaching the entrance of the underground garage, Mr. Liang exclaimed, "I bought this car for over 600,000 yuan, and now I will have to spend at least 10,000 yuan on repainting!" The police measured the length of the scratch on the front hood of the Mercedes-Benz, which extended over 90 centimeters.
The property management suspects it was done by a resident.
Mr. Wang, the administrator of the Elegance Property Management, stated that since September 2004 when the residential area was handed over for use, they have discovered that all surveillance equipment within the compound is basically non-functional. With the developer having gone bankrupt, although they intended to re-establish the surveillance system within the compound, the cost of over 100,000 yuan made it impossible for them to proceed. So, what kind of person could commit such acts within the compound? According to Mr. Wang, the administrator, most of the scratched cars belong to residents of Building No. 2. Moreover, the perpetrator, after scratching the cars in Building No. 2, ran to the entrance of the underground garage to continue their vandalism, passing through other parking lots and other luxury cars along the way, including one worth over 2 million yuan, yet none of these were touched. Therefore, this malicious act was not carried out by a typical anti-wealth individual but rather targeted specifically at the residents of Building No. 2. Hence, Mr. Wang analyzed that the person who committed these malicious acts should be a resident of the compound.
Claiming compensation proves difficult for car owners.
Many car owners sought explanations from the property management, but Mr. Wang of the property management believed that the 100-yuan monthly parking fee collected per vehicle was merely a management fee, so they do not bear the responsibility for compensating the scratched vehicles. Car owners can only claim compensation from the perpetrator. Lawyer Yang Chaojiang from a law firm in Nanjing believes that whether the property has the responsibility to compensate depends on whether there is an agreement between the property and the homeowners. If there is a contract specifying such terms, then the property should assume corresponding responsibilities.
By reporter Li Haiyong
(Informant: Mr. Chen)